Inter Miami are already planning a long-term future with Lionel Messi that goes well beyond his current contract, according to reports. Now that the 39-year-old has retired from the Argentina national team, he is fully focused on the MLS, and the club’s ownership want to keep him tied to the franchise even after he stops playing, a vision that includes the possibility of him becoming a shareholder.
Messi’s contract with Inter Miami runs through the end of the 2028 MLS season, but the club’s leadership do not want that date to mark the end of the relationship. Jorge Mas, the team’s managing owner and CEO, considers that the project built around Messi requires an investment of between $70 million and $80 million per year, taking into account all the elements linked to the player.
Xavier Asensi, the club’s president of business operations, has also revealed that Inter Miami already contemplate the scenario after Messi’s retirement and the chance that he can become part of the club’s ownership group once he stops playing professionally. BBC Sport reported that his agreement already includes a pathway to receive a minority stake in the team after his playing career ends, and that Messi prefers the idea of owning a club to coaching one.
Even so, nothing has been signed yet: there is no confirmed agreement to extend Messi’s contract through 2030, a date that for now should be understood as a long-term horizon and not as a closed renewal. For the moment, Messi’s immediate focus will be on the field, with Inter Miami set to host DC United on Saturday, October 10, at Nu Stadium in the MLS regular season.
Lionel Messi celebrates a goal for Inter Miami. (Getty Images)
How Messi turned Inter Miami into MLS’s most valuable club
Since Lionel Messi arrived in July 2023, Inter Miami have gone from a young franchise with promise to the league’s biggest commercial force. The club was valued at around $600 million before his signing, and Forbes now puts that figure at $1.35 billion, making Inter Miami the most valuable team in MLS ahead of LAFC.
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The growth has come with trophies as well: the 2023 Leagues Cup, the 2024 Supporters’ Shield and the 2025 MLS Cup, a 3-1 win over Vancouver in which Messi provided an assist.
That growth explains why Inter Miami want to keep him for as long as possible. Keeping Messi reportedly costs the club between $70 and $80 million a year, according to Mas, but the commercial return has so far outweighed that investment. With much of the club’s recent value tied to his presence, Inter Miami are reportedly working on a long-term plan that would keep him involved beyond his playing career, including a potential path to a shareholder role.
