Imagine you are the captain of a football club and Lionel Messi signs for your team. This was the situation DeAndre Yedlin found himself in on 15 July 2023 when the man himself announced to the world that he was moving from PSG to MLS.
“We found out when he announced it,” explains Yedlin, speaking to FourFourTwo from his home in Cincinnati where he has been since March having transferred from Miami at the start of the 2024 MLS season. But he was at the heart of ‘Messi mania’ in Miami for eight months.
“We had known for a little bit of time that there was a possibility [Messi would join Miami]. But I was kind of shocked, to be honest.
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“The fact that the greatest ever was coming to the team I was playing for was surprising. Just to be able to learn from him, to hear all these stories about him and what he does on the field, to see that in person was pretty exciting.”
There was already a celebrity focus around the club – hard to avoid when your owner is David Beckham (who FourFourTwo recently included in the greatest team of our lifetime) but that went up another level when the Argentinian World Cup-winning captain arrived.
“It’s wild; a lot changed. It’s Messi, so a lot needs to be catered to him. It’s no surprise; he’s the face of that team and pretty much the face of the MLS.”
The focus of the football world switched to South Florida. Yedlin himself had barely been at the club six months and now they were unveiling Lionel Messi as a team-mate.
His introduction to the player widely regarded as the greatest ever came via WhatsApp. “For his inaugural announcement to the fans, we all got tickets. Leo Campana (Miami’s Equadorian forward) needed extra so he put in the team group chat asking if anyone had extra tickets.
“Messi popped up in the group chat like five minutes later and asked, ‘Hey Leo, how many do you need?’ It was the first engagement we all had with him, at least for the English speakers. It showed compassion for someone he didn’t really know at that time; he didn’t have to do that, but it speaks to the person he is. That was pretty cool to see.”
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With Messi announced and unveiled, it was time for him to play. His first game presented an immediate conundrum for Yedlin as club captain.
“He started on the bench then came on around the 60th minute. At halftime, I asked the coach [Tata Martinez] if he wanted me to give him the armband, and he said it was up to me. In my head, I thought ‘there’s no way I’m on the field wearing the captain’s armband while Messi’s also on the field’. So for me, it was a no-brainer to give it to him.
“I went up to him and told him, ‘Hey, when you come on, I’m going to give you the armband,’ just so that he wasn’t surprised or anything. At first, he said, ‘No, no, no, you’re the captain, you wear it,’ and I said, ‘No, trust me, I’m going to give it to you.’ He agreed, and that was it.”
Messi has been Inter Miami captain ever since. A month after he joined, Inter Miami won the Leagues Cup (a competition between teams from MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX).
The trophy lift produced a viral moment, when Messi removed the armband and put it back on Yedlin, with the pair lifting the cup together. “Incredible. There have been many moments in my career, but that’s definitely one that I’ll tell my kids about. It’ll go down as a highlight of my career, just being able to share that moment with him.”
It was a moment unique to Yedlin, and more precious than a selfie or shirt with the great man. Yedlin was keen not to ‘fanboy’ around Messi during their time together. “It’s a lot. I didn’t get any Messi jerseys. I felt a bit strange doing it.
“There is so much attention around him. Part of me wanted to let him be, let him live his life, and not worry about people coming up to him, even his own teammates. I guess it’s just me. Some people will take the opportunity, and it’s great for them to have Messi’s jersey, but for me, the experience was enough.
“If my kids don’t believe me, there are photos. I think that’s enough. He has so much attention on him. When we go to away games we can walk out of the hotel and get a coffee if we’re in the city, but he can’t even really leave the door.
“I felt bad that he had to live his life like that. He is Messi, but I think for me, it’s just about letting him enjoy being in the moment without people asking him for things.”
If things go well for Inter Miami and Yedlin’s new club FC Cincinnati in the MLS playoffs the pair will be reunited in the Eastern Conference Finals later this month.
DeAndre Yedlin is an investor and ambassador for Sokito football boots, click here to learn more
