Lionel Messi really is coming to MLS and as heady as that news is, things haven’t even started to get weird yet.
On one hand, yes, it’s strange that Messi confirmed he’ll join Inter Miami rather than take unfathomable money to go to Saudi Arabia or figure out some kind of way Barcelona could afford to bring him back. We’re already in some bizarre territory.
However, Messi hasn’t actually signed his contract yet, and things won’t get truly absurd until the all-time great is walking out in pink and black at a stadium near you. There is a distinct chance that, in the near future, Lionel Messi will be playing a competitive game on a random Wednesday night against the Colorado Rapids.
It’s going to be extraordinary, a joy and a farce all at once. Still, like every other huge international signing that has come to MLS before him, we can be sure that Messi will encounter some oddity in our soccer scene that he’s not exactly excited about. Eventually one of the only-in-MLS things that we take for granted will rub Messi the wrong way.
Here are the odds on which of the familiar “world-famous player comes to MLS” stumbling blocks is going to draw Messi’s first complaint.