With Miami move, Messi joins elite list of soccer greats who went west

Soccer legend Lionel Messi had many options for where to take his career after a stint at Paris Saint-Germain. So his decision to cross the pond and play in North America was surprising. But maybe it shouldn't have been.

News broke this week that the Argentinian great will join Major League Soccer's Inter Miami, with some details still to be worked out.

But he's not the first global soccer superstar to make a late-career move to this side of the Atlantic — something he seemed to acknowledge when announcing his move to Miami and the MLS.

"After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, it was my turn to go to the league of the United States to live football in another way," said Messi, who is also a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner and four-time Champions League winner, among other accomplishments in the sport.

Here's a few other players who have made the jump.

It was Pelé who paved the path for other superstars to come to North America nearly five decades ago.

The way the three-time World Cup winner saw it, he was also carving a path for the beautiful game itself.

"You can say now to the world that soccer has finally arrived in the United States," Pelé said, in remarks reported by the New York Times the day he signed a contract with the New York Cosmos of the now-defunct North American Soccer League (NASL), back in June of 1975.

His North American career gave his fans on this side of the border the chance to see Pelé up close when he was playing games in Canada.

Pelé, who died at age 82 last December, spent the last three years as a pro playing with the Cosmos.

At first, George Best denied reports that he was heading to Los Angeles.

"They have jumped the gun," said Best, according to a Toronto Star