Revealed: How Lionel Messi beat streaming star Adin Ross to Miami mansion after stunning move to MLS

The 2022 World Cup winner, who now has eight Ballons d’Or to his name, completed a switch to Inter Miami during the summer of 2023. Having bid farewell to Europe following spells at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, Messi needed a new base for his young family.

He quickly identified a waterfront property in Florida, with a deal done there which left streaming star Ross – who shot to fame in 2019 playing NBA 2K on Twitch and now boasts a lucrative deal with Kick – left frustrated as he was outbid by a “very famous professional athlete.”

Ross has said of missing out on a home that he also viewed before missing out to an all-time great from the sporting world: “It’s nothing about me being broken. I just couldn’t get to there in time. I saw the house, but they were already in talks and all that. The professional athlete is Messi.”

Expanding on how he was left empty-handed, Ross added: “Messi’s parents, I think it was? I believe it was his grandparents, or I don’t know who the f*ck it was. Messi, they wanted a crib for their grandchildren or some sh*t, they were playing a game. I don’t even know, and they got it.”

Ross is reported to have a net worth of around $40 million (£32m), but Messi is said to come in at over $600m (£484m) and was always going to have the financial muscle required to prevail in any bidding war for a home that he intends to fill with more medals across an initial two-and-a-half-year contract with MLS side Inter Miami.