You can't buy an official Lionel Messi Inter Miami jersey yet – here's why

Since Lionel Messi announced he would be joining Inter Miami, I'm sure many of you have tried to get a hand on an OFFICIAL – caps intentional – jersey with his name and the iconic number 10 on the back. 

However, I also know that all of your attempts have failed. 

There are no Messi jerseys in Inter Miami's physical stores. Zero. And when you attempted to personalize a shirt with the Argentine's credentials on their website, you most likely had seen the following message: "We are unable to customize this item with the text you have entered. Please try a different entry."

Why is that? Well, there are a couple of reasons behind it.

One of those reasons is that Lionel Messi is still a PSG player – and he will be until June 30 – so part of his image rights are still tied to the French team. And in that scenario, any Inter Miami attempt to use Messi's name for commercial purposes before July 1 could be met by a boring, millionaire legal fight.

Then you have the fact that Messi hasn't signed his Inter Miami contract yet, making it impossible for the team to use his image until the pen is put to paper.

But what about the "Bienvenido a Miami" collection that adidas just released and you can find in some retailers in Florida? Well, adidas is Messi's official sponsor, and none of the pieces in the collection is actually linked to Inter Miami. They have Messi and adidas' official logos, they use the name of the city of Miami (not the team) and as far as we know, colors like pink – associated with Inter Miami – are not subject to copyrights.

Bienvenido #Messi

Collection AVAILABLE NOW
➡️ https://t.co/IVWugAEqop pic.twitter.com/Oo8H8nYWEb

— Pelé Soccer (@pelesoccershop) June 26, 2023

So this is basically a loophole, an opportunity for adidas and Messi to make some extra cash until they can sell the official jersey.

Lionel Messi Inter Miami jersey – Where can I buy it?

The big question now is when people will be able to buy the official Lionel Messi Inter Miami shirt. And while we don't have the actual date, we suggest keeping an eye on the following three dates:

• July 1: The first day on which Messi is not a PSG player
• July 5: The first day of the MLS summer window market.
• July 16: The rumored day of his official presentation in Inter Miami

The jersey will be sold in Inter Miami stores, the MLS Store and adidas.

An extra tip? Check the jersey's availability as close as midnight you can because once they are out, they might be gone quickly.