David Beckham reveals the bizarre rule Lionel Messi and other players are made to follow at Inter Miami

Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham has implemented a rule at the Major League Soccer club that relates to social media activity before games.

Since the MLS approved Beckham's expansion team in 2019, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder has helped Inter Miami become a globally-recognised brand.

As a result, they are currently the second most valuable club in America's top flight behind Los Angeles FC with a value of over $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel about his journey in Miami, Beckham gave an insight into numerous subjects, including his decision to sack Phil Neville in June last year.

He also spoke about the rule he brought to the table regarding pre-match social media activity.

After the topic of Barcelona telling players to avoid posting pictures of their outfits before a match was brought up, Beckham replied: "Yeah, funnily enough, our team started doing it a couple of times and I stopped that."

Ferdinand, who appeared surprised by the comment, replied: “The man about fashion. The man who broke down all the barriers... I can't believe that Mr. Fashion said there's no fashion going on at my football club.”

Beckham then responded: “Yeah, but we weren't winning games at that point.”

The former England captain softened his previous statement somewhat, but said he wants his players to read the room before posting on social media.

“Well, they can still do it,” he said. “I just don't wanna see it on social media if we're actually losing games.”

Image credit: Getty

As mentioned earlier, Beckham also spoke about sacking former Manchester United teammate Phil Neville last year – a decision he describes as "one of the hardest things I've had to do".

Neville, who was appointed Inter Miami manager in January 2021 following a three-year spell as the England Women's head coach, helped the Fort Lauderdale-based club to a place in the MLS Cup playoffs in 2022.

But after picking up five wins in 16 games, he was relieved of his duties as The Herons sat bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference.

Beckham said: "I think it was one of the most difficult things I'd had to do, even though me and Phil had spoke about it.

"When he first came on as Miami coach. I knew that if it came to this moment, it was going to be difficult no matter what time it happened and when it happened.

"I'd called him and said, we're going to meet. We walked in the room and we hugged. It was quite emotional on my side, just purely because I didn't want to sack a friend."