Lionel Messi joins Inter Miami: Biggest international stars to move to the United States to play pro sports

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Lionel Messi has made his decision to come to the MLS and play for Inter Miami. Messi will be one of the biggest international stars to make the move to the United States to continue his pro sports career, but he will not be the first.

Several stars across a few different sports have come to the U.S. following decorated careers overseas. Messi has already been preceded by players like David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović, who spent time with the L.A. Galaxy.

Several baseball, basketball, and hockey players have also joined the pro ranks in America after putting up monster numbers in leagues across the world. Arvydas Sabonis and Hideki Matsui are just two players who were already established stars before joining the NBA and MLB, respectively.

Let’s take a look back at some of the biggest international sports stars who brought their talents to the United States after establishing themselves overseas.

Soccer

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Lionel Messi

Few international sports signings in the United States compare to this one. Lionel Messi is a living legend, and he can still play at a high level. In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Messi led Argentina to a championship and won the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament with seven goals. He also won the Golden Ball when Argentina was the runner up at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and is the only player to have won it twice.

In 17 seasons with FC Barcelona, Messi established himself as one of the greatest soccer players of all time with 474 goals and 191 assists in 519 matches. He also led Barcelona to 10 La Liga titles. These past two years, Messi has played for Paris Saint-Germain, and the club won back-to-back Ligue 1 championships with Messi tallying 22 goals in 58 matches.

Messi will be a huge draw for Inter Miami, and his presence will be a surge of interest to the MLS, but he is not the first international soccer star to make his way to the U.S.

Zlatan Ibrahimović

Zlatan…

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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/lionel-messi-joins-inter-miami-biggest-international-stars-to-move-to-the-united-states-to-play-pro-sports/

Author : Austin Nivison

Publish date : 2023-06-07 20:32:46

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