Lionel Messi English update: USMNT star Julian Gressel ‘still bilingual’ despite iconic Inter Miami team-mate starting to make ‘jokes’ in second language

Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi moved to the United States in the summer of 2023 having spent time in Spain and France with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Arriving in an English-speaking country could have been something of a culture shock, but there is a large Spanish-speaking community in Florida.

Get the MLS Season Pass today!

Stream games now

Messi has also been joined in Miami by the familiar faces of former Barca team-mates Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets – while ex-Blaugrana coach Tata Martino is calling the shots at Chase Stadium - ensuring that he has plenty of people to speak to on and off the pitch.

The Argentine icon is doing his best to break down a native language barrier, with United States international Gressel telling the PLAYER/MANAGER podcast of how that process is going: “You know, there's continuing to be conversations, there's continuing to be little English words thrown out at me, or at us in general. There's obviously more communication in Spanish, but it's definitely still all fun and games where, you know, sometimes he even jokes around a little bit in English now and when we talk about, I don't know, basketball, for example, or some other stuff. But it's definitely still bilingual!”

Messi has never been one to lead with words, with it more his style to inspire through actions. He continues to do that in 2024, with his 11-goal return through 10 appearances this season helping Inter Miami to the top of the MLS Eastern Conference while he begins to generate MVP talk.