Anti-Castro supporters, brothers dribbled Saudis to have Messi – 06/24/2023 – Sport

Lionel Messi’s new bosses are declared enemies of the Cuban dictatorship and have outwitted another undemocratic country: the royal family of Saudi Arabia.

From an anti-Castro tradition passed down from father to son, little used to interviews and billionaires, brothers Jorge and José Mas managed to close the biggest signing in the history of Major League Soccer, the professional soccer league in the United States.

In a salary agreement of US$ 40 million per year (R$ 193 million at the current exchange rate), the player elected seven times best on the planet, captain of the world champion team and star of last year’s Cup, in Qatar, agreed to exchange Paris Saint -Germain for Inter Miami.

“If I had only thought about the money, I would have gone to Arabia”, said the attacker, rejecting having made a purely financial choice.

And truth. Al Ittihad was so sure of signing the player that they were already preparing the presentation party. Messi would receive, in return, the highest salary in football history: US$ 400 million (R$ 1.9 billion) a year.

The Argentine’s remuneration in the United States will not only be the salary paid by the club. Its acquisition will be a major marketing coup for Apple, which owns the MLS streaming rights. Messi will receive a percentage of new packages sold. He will also get bonuses paid by Adidas (his personal sponsor) for selling club shirts.

In a few days, Inter Miami went from 800,000 to 7 million followers on social media.

Messi will also be entitled, in the future, to buy a league franchise at a discount or to have an equity stake in Inter. It was the same package that lured Englishman David Beckham. When signing a contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, he received the right to have his team in the competition for US$ 25 million (R$ 120.5 million). The normal price for “starting a team” in MLS these days is in the $200 million range.

Beckham, a minority shareholder today, was part of the group that created Inter Miami in 2013. The leader of the consortium was Bolivian businessman Marcelo Claure. The Mas brothers entered the business in 2017. In September 2021, they bought Claure’s share, that of Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son and gained control of the franchise.

That’s when he started dating Lionel Messi through the player’s father.

Jorge and José Mas own MasTec, a US infrastructure construction giant based in Miami. Last year, the company raised US$ 9.8 billion (R$ 47.2 billion). The personal assets of Jorge, the eldest, are valued at US$ 1 billion (R$ 4.8 billion). That of the youngest José, also owner of Zaragoza, in Spain, is US$ 500 million (R$ 2.4 billion).

Both are richer than David Beckham, who has an estimated fortune of US$ 420 million (R$ 2 billion).

The origin of the Mas family fortune lies in the patriarch Jorge Canosa, one of the most combative activists against Fidel Castro’s dictatorship (1926-2016). Born in Cuba, he moved to the United States under threat of arrest in his homeland in the early 1960s because of his opposition to the dictator.

Canosa took part in the Bay of Pigs invasion, the failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, engineered by the US government in 1961. After settling in Florida, he was a dishwasher, milk delivery man and shoe salesman. Even after taking control of a small company that he built and provided infrastructure for telephone networks, the Church and Tower, he did not stop activism. He received military training from the US government and attended courses in intelligence and political propaganda.

In 1981, under the encouragement of then-president Ronald Reagan, he created the Cuban-American National Foundation, to oppose Castro from Florida, bringing together dissidents of the regime.

Son Jorge joined his father’s company in the 1970s. He was the head of the subsequent merger with another brand in the market, Barnup y Sims. That’s when MasTec was born. In a short time, the new company was already earning US$ 40 million a year.

The eldest son assumed the political role after his father’s retirement and death. He chaired the same foundation and supports the US trade embargo on Cuba.

Owning an MLS franchise struck the brothers as a good business opportunity. José is a fan of the sport, but Jorge’s previous involvement is unknown.

The brothers and David Beckham realized that there was a chance to sign Messi between July and August last year. The player, his wife Antonella and their three children spent their holidays in Miami and fell in love with the city. Lionel told friends he would love to live there. Playing in the MLS at the end of his career was already a wish he had expressed in the past, but he didn’t imagine it to be something serious.

“After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, ​​it was my turn to go to the US league and experience football in a different way,” he said in an interview with Catalan newspapers Mundo Deportivo and Sport.

Living football “in another way” means moving away from the pressures of the main European leagues and the obligation to win titles. He was booed by PSG fans.

“We are delighted that Lionel Messi intends to join Inter Miami and Major League Soccer,” said the league’s press release. “While there is still work to be done to finalize the deal, we look forward to welcoming one of the greatest players in history to our league.”