Lionel Messi’s Retirement Plan To Join Inter Miami In 2023 And Buy 35% Stake In MLS Franchise

Ex-FC Barcelona legend Lionel Messi plans to retire in the United States after buying a 35% stake in an MLS franchise in 2023.

These claims have been made by DirecTV reporter Alex Candal, with Messi set to honor his two-year contract at Paris Saint Germain first and then venture over the Atlantic to Inter Miami.

Leaving Barca as a free agent last summer, Messi agreed terms with PSG until June 2023, when he will have just turned 36.

According to the report, the Argentine’s plan is to spend one more term in the European elite where he will be able to not just take a last crack at winning a fifth Champions League title, but also stay in peak shape to head to the Qatar 2022 World Cup and try to seal the only major trophy that has eluded him in a glittering career.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has long been linked to Inter Miami, and Candal says that the David Beckham-owned franchise already has a contract written up for Barca’s all-time goalscoring and appearances leader which is yet to be signed.

Before joining Inter Miami, however, Messi will purchase a 35% stake in the MLS outfit before then starting to live his own American Dream.

While still employed at Camp Nou, Messi expressed a strong desire to ply his trade in the US one day and said: “I always had the dream of being able to enjoy and have the experience of living in the United States, experience what the league there is like,” to La Sexta at the turn of 2021.

Amid a rocky season with PSG which saw the perennial continental under-achievers again suffer an embarrassing comeback knockout in the Champions League, this time to Real Madrid, Messi was booed by the home fans at the Parc des Princes and there had been rumors that he would make a sensational return to FC Barcelona.

Both the father’s player Jorge and the Catalans’ president Joan Laporta have said they hope Messi comes back to the Blaugrana one day, but this seems increasingly more likely to materialize once he hangs his boots up and takes up a role behind the scenes as a director of football or some such.