Inter Miami, the new Major League Soccer franchise set to debut this weekend will look to sign Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as a sign of their global ambition co-owner David Beckham said on Wednesday.

Inter Miami play their first official MLS match when they travel to Los Angeles to face LAFC on Sunday.

Sunday’s game will mark the culmination of a dream that began when Beckham exercised an option to own a franchise – included in the deal that brought him to MLS from Real Madrid as a player in 2007.

Beckham shocked the world when he left Real Madrid to sign with the Los Angeles Galaxy at a time the MLS had a reputation as a retirement home for the game’s ageing stars – something it still struggles with.

And speaking ahead of the new season, the former England and Manchester United captain hinted that his club might deploy the Galaxy template of signing the game’s biggest stars.

“We really believe in the roster we have, the players that we have we’re really happy with but we have also talked about if we have the opportunity to bring in big name players from Europe into our city we will do that,” Beckham said.

“Every team in the world would want Messi and Ronaldo in their teams.

“But we always talked about us being different from any other team, which I am sure every other owner says exactly the same thing,” Beckham added.

“So that’s what we will try to do and if we have the opportunity to bring big name players in then great we’re lucky we have an ownership group that has that vision and wants to succeed and has that competitiveness where we want the best players.”