The football icon joined Inter Miami last year and the club's co-chairman Xavier Asensi compared the Argentine to basketball legend Michael Jordan for the transformational impact he has had on sport in the United States.

Asensi said during the 'The future of clubs in the new world of football' debate at the College of Economists in Catalonia: "For MLS, there is a before and an after Messi. He has changed everything. People can support any team, but they come to the stadium to see Messi. He is the only comparable example to (Michael) Jordan."

Asensi explained that plans to bring Messi to Miami began in 2021 after he made the switch from Barcelona to PSG.

He said: "When Messi went to Paris, a machine started running in my mind and the owners to ensure that when these two years of contract were over, the United States would be the next destination.

"If we did the same thing or tried to compete on equal footing with other clubs, it would have been impossible to win, because someone with more money or history would come along than us, given that we were only three years old as a club."

Asensi explained how he managed to convince MLS bosses that Messi's arrival would be transformative from both a sporting and commercial perspective.

He said: "I went to the League and explained to them with data and tried to sell that if Messi came, it would change their lives. I went to Adidas, Fanatics and Apple.

"We discussed internally how to involve him in equity matters. And when we pieced together this 'Frankenstein,' we became a feasible option."