FANS have been left baffled after a US journalist bizarrely claimed that Lionel Messi should learn English like David Beckham did before moving to the MLS.
Messi announced on Wednesday that he would be joining Inter Miami in a dramatic transfer U-turn having been strongly linked with a return to former club Barcelona, and a big money move to Saudi Arabia.
Excitement for the Argentine’s arrival has been seen across the whole country not least for Inter Miami who have seen a huge increase in their Instagram following.
However, Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade raised issue with the potential language barrier for Messi, but made a bizarre comparison to David Beckham.
He said: “The only thing I worry about, he [Messi] doesn’t speak English, and I want to see him sit down and talk.
“One thing about David Beckham, he learnt to speak English for us [Americans] with an accent, when he came at 32-years-old.”
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Fans took to social media in their masses to respond to Kilmeade’s comments.
One said: “Kilmeade is the dumbest and it isn’t even close.”
A second added: “Truly one of the funnier sports related news clips I’ve ever seen.”
A third said: “There’s stupid, and then there’s weaponized ignorance like this.”
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Another responded: “An Englishman learned to speak English. This guy is an oxygen thief.”
Following the backlash Kilmeade clarified his comments in a tweet saying: “This is hilarious – once again people have no idea when I am kidding around.”
Messi will see out the remainder of his contract with PSG before meeting up with his new team-mates in Miami.
His debut has reportedly been scheduled in for July 21 in a League Cup opener at home to Cruz Azul before making his MLS debut a month later in a home fixture against Charlotte FC.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
