Lionel Messi's red-hot start with Inter Miami not only helped them lift the 2023 Leagues Cup, but also put the Argentine legend in a great position to become the club's all-time leading goalscorer.
Messi hit the ground running after arriving in Florida, scoring 10 goals in seven Leagues Cup appearances for the Herons - the last of those strikes coming as Tata Martino's side edged out Nashville SC 10-9 penalties after a 1-1 draw in regular play.
The 36-year-old's arrival also provided a major spark within the Inter Miami squad, and he was soon joined at the club by former Barcelona team-mates Sergio Busquets and Jorbi Alba to form a devastating trio tasked with helping the club challenge for trophies.
When could Lionel Messi become Inter Miami's top goalscorer?
Messi's early Miami goal blitz saw him netting at better than a goal per game - a rate he's delivered at the highest level during the very peak years of his career. But with Miami struggling to make an impression in Major League Soccer during 2023, things may not click into gear straight away as the club look to pull away from the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
That said, Messi is already up into third place in franchise goalscoring history, trailing just Leonardo Campana and record goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain, who is a player Messi is all too familiar with because of their international exploits with Argentina.
Higuain scored 29 goals in 70 games for Miami in the twilight years of his career, averaging around a goal every 2.5 games. Messi's rate is expected to be remain significantly better than that, also bettering the rate of Campana. If he matches his Leagues Cup form - ten goals in seven games - he could get close to catching Higuain before the end of 2023.
Current Miami teammates Robert Taylor and Josef Martinez have also made their way into Miami's top five - don't forget the franchise was only established in 2018 and they're still very much finding their feet in MLS and forging their own history.
Current Inter Miami all-time record goalscorers
*Active players
How many goals has Lionel Messi scored during his career?
The answer most defences would tell you is too many, with Messi's record over the course of his near 20-year career at the highest level simply sensational.
Though he's never really been an out and out striker, the back of the net has been bulged over 840 times at the time of writing in shy of 1,100 games. The best years of Messi's career, from a stats point of view, came during 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13 with Barcelona. In that time, Messi played 165 games and scored 186 goals - unsurprisingly lifted two Ballons d'Or, two European Golden Shoe and back-to-back-to-back La Liga Best Player awards.
Barcelona also won two La Liga titles and a Champions League during that time, largely thanks to Messi's brilliance.
On the international stage, Messi has scored 100 goals for Argentina having sparkled at Under-20 level, and finally got his hands on the World Cup in 2022. He also won the Golden Ball award for best player and finished as runner-up to Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot.
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This article was originally published on 90min as When will Lionel Messi become Inter Miami's all-time leading goalscorer?.