Inter Miami's Long-Term Plan for Lionel Messi: A Future Beyond 2028

Days after Lionel Messi closed his Argentina career with the 3-0 farewell win over Benin, new reporting says Inter Miami are already designing a future with him that stretches far beyond his 2028 contract — one that could end with the greatest player of all time becoming a part-owner of the club.

Miami's plan goes well beyond the current contract

Lionel Messi's contract with Inter Miami runs through the end of the 2028 MLS season, but the club's ownership do not want that date to mark the end of the relationship. According to a new report from World Soccer Talk, Inter Miami are already planning a long-term future with the 39-year-old that keeps him tied to the franchise even after he stops playing, a vision that includes the possibility of him becoming a shareholder.

The timing is no accident. With his international career now finished after the Argentina farewell against Benin, Messi is fully focused on club football — and Miami know exactly how much of their identity and commercial power rests on his shoulders. The club leadership reportedly consider the post-2028 horizon the real prize: keeping Messi inside the project as an owner rather than watching him walk away.

Xavier Asensi, Inter Miami's president of business operations, has spoken openly about that scenario. He has said the club already contemplate the possibility of Messi joining the ownership group once his playing career ends, turning the most famous signing in MLS history into a permanent fixture of the franchise.

The $70–80 million-a-year project

Keeping Messi at Inter Miami is an enormous undertaking, and the club's ownership make no secret of its scale. Managing owner Jorge Mas has said that the project built around Messi requires an investment of between $70 million and $80 million per year, taking into account every element linked to the player — salary, image rights, marketing, and the commercial machine that surrounds him.

It is money the club have been happy to spend because the return has been staggering. When Messi arrived in July 2023, Inter Miami were valued at around $600 million; Forbes now puts the club's value at $1.35 billion, making them the most valuable team in MLS ahead of LAFC. That surge in value explains why the ownership view the post-2028 relationship as an investment worth protecting at almost any cost.

On the pitch, the trophies followed the money. Miami won the 2023 Leagues Cup weeks after Messi's arrival, the 2024 Supporters' Shield, and the 2025 MLS Cup with a 3-1 win over Vancouver in which Messi provided an assist. As club captain, he has also reached 100 goals in just 115 appearances for the Herons, achieved in September 2026, confirming his status as the most influential player in the club's history.

Messi will review his future at the end of every season

While Miami dream of a permanent tie, Messi himself is keeping his options under constant review. According to an October 7 report from Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Argentine captain intends to evaluate his future at the end of every season, meeting with the club's leadership each year to decide whether he will continue playing.

That does not mean a departure is imminent. Other recent reporting indicates that Messi intends to fulfill his current agreement through 2028, and the annual conversations reflect the unique circumstances of a player who turns 40 in June 2027 rather than any disagreement between player and club. No contractual clause allowing an automatic exit after each season has been confirmed.

The arrangement gives Messi an active voice in the most delicate decision of his career: when to stop. Physical condition, motivation, family considerations, and the demands of a long MLS calendar will all weigh on those year-end meetings — and every offseason could now bring fresh discussions about how much longer the greatest of all time keeps playing.

Owner, not coach: Messi's chosen path after playing

If there was any doubt about what Messi wants once the boots come off, BBC Sport reporting settled it. The 39-year-old has definitively ruled out a move into coaching and instead intends to become a club owner, with a route into Inter Miami's ownership group seen as the natural destination.

BBC Sport reported that Messi's Inter Miami agreement already includes a pathway for him to receive a minority stake in the team after his playing career ends — an arrangement that would make him part-owner of the franchise he transformed. Asensi's recent comments show the club are actively preparing for that scenario, even if no final agreement has been officially announced.

Messi is no stranger to club ownership either. He has already acquired Spanish clubs Eldense and Cornellà, building his own international football portfolio while still playing. He has also ruled out a return to boyhood club Newell's Old Boys in any capacity, making Miami the clear center of his post-playing ambitions.

No 2030 extension on the table — yet

Despite the ambitious long-term talk, there is no confirmed agreement to extend Messi's playing contract through 2030. World Soccer Talk were explicit on this point: 2030 should be understood as a long-term horizon for the relationship, not a closed renewal, and nothing has been signed yet beyond the existing deal through 2028.

That leaves two parallel timelines running. One is the playing contract, with its built-in annual reviews under La Gazzetta dello Sport's reporting. The other is the ownership vision, which Miami hope will begin the day the playing career ends. The club's challenge is to make sure those two timelines connect — so that the end of Messi the player becomes the beginning of Messi the owner.

For now, the next chapter is written one season at a time, and the first page of it arrives on Saturday, October 10, when Inter Miami host DC United at Nu Stadium in the MLS regular season, with the Herons looking to recover winning form before the playoffs.

Why Miami cannot afford to let him go

Strip away the numbers and the logic is simple: no player in MLS history has done what Messi has done for one franchise. He arrived to a struggling expansion-era club and turned it into the league's biggest commercial force and its most valuable asset, all while delivering the first trophies in club history.

His 100 goals in 115 appearances tell only part of the story. Every milestone — the 2023 Leagues Cup, the 2024 Shield, the 2025 MLS Cup — has been built around him, and his presence has driven ticket sales, sponsorships, and global attention that no other MLS club can match. A permanent ownership stake would let Miami lock in that value long after the final whistle of his playing career.

There are still trophies to chase before any of that happens. The MLS Cup defense, the Concacaf Champions Cup, the Leagues Cup, and the U.S. Open Cup all remain on the agenda for the remainder of his contract. If Messi keeps adding silverware while Miami keep building around him, the $70–80 million a year will look less like a cost and more like the cheapest investment in world football.

Questions people ask

All of our farewell coverage is on Argentina vs Benin.