KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Wednesday, Major League Soccer team Inter Miami signed Lionel Messi, arguably the world's greatest soccer player of all time. One Knoxville SC wants to help the superstar get acclimated in the U.S. by letting him play in Knoxville in USL League 1.
One Knox partner Drew McKenna jokingly penned a letter to Inter Miami to make that happen and then he sent it in the mail.
He sent a letter shown below to Inter Miami owner David Beckham. Yes, that David Beckham.
The hopes, tied with zero expectations and done for a good laugh, were in hopes of getting Messi on a loan.
McKenna wrote why he believes One Knox could help the superstar get acclimated.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a new game for him. He’s the world’s greatest but he has only played 'futbol' until now," he said. "The guy has to come over here and play soccer, it’s a whole different deal.”
One Knox would want Inter Miami to take care of housing, travel, food, appearance fees, security detail, and any incidents for Messi, But that’s all.
“Yeah, he’s not a cheap player so we aren’t built for his salary," McKenna said. "But we would be doing him a big service to get him ready for the big leagues of MLS. So they’ll have to pay his wages. They’re paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars and we don’t have that kind of budget.”
With those terms, the letter was sent.
All jokes aside, there is a possibility Messi could play in Knoxville one day. USL League 1 teams and MLS teams play each other every year in the US Open Cup.
“Last night Inter Miami, Messi’s team played a USL League 1 team in the US Open Cup," McKenna said. "So it’s not out of the realm of possibility, wouldn’t say it’s 100 percent but we could have Messi playing against us and it could be at Regal Stadium.”
So whether Messi joins One Knox or not, it could very well happen One Knox and Messi face off one day. McKenna says that would be wild and it would be cool for the city.
“We feel like even if it was a Tuesday night and Messi was here we’d still have 50,000 people go to the game," he said/ "It would be a huge moment for Knoxville sports.”