Messi, a forward for Inter Miami, has been named a finalist for Major League Soccer’s rookie of the year award.

Messi is also the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday, after taking Argentina to victory in the World Cup.

MLS also has an award for a player who made his start in 2023 and has played professionally before. The other finalists are Giorgos Giakoumakis of Atlanta United and Eduard Lowen of St. Louis City SC. Messi shocked everyone in soccer when he went from PSG to Inter Miami, one of the worst teams in the MLS, in the summer.

Soon after he joined Miami, he led them to an unexpected win in the first MLS Leagues Cup.

Since his first game for Miami in July, Messi has scored 11 goals and set up eight others. 

Some people thought the 36-year-old would leave Miami on a short-term loan to go back to Europe or spend time in Saudi Arabia during the downtime for Major League Soccer. He also wrote nice things about the team on Instagram, saying that he was “proud” of what Miami did.

He wrote on Instagram, “I am proud of everything the team did this season.”

“Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we won the Leagues Cup, which was the first title in Inter Miami CF’s history. We also made it to the final of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup and were in the thick of the race to make the MLS playoffs right up until the very end.”

“We’re left with all the good things and most of all, the drive to get better so that we can be even stronger next year.” Please accept my thanks to everyone at the club and in Miami for always being there for us. I’m sure we’ll keep having amazing times together, like we have in the past few months.