Messi’s MLS Future Won’t Be Decided By Jordi Alba’s Extension

During the 2023 MLS All-Star Game activities, in the final days before Lionel Messi made his debut for Inter Miami during the Leagues Cup, MLS Commissioner Don Garber was asked what the league’s goals was for its relationship with the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner now that the dream of his arrival was real.

Job 1, Garber said, was making sure Messi felt happy, and part of the family.

In recent weeks, Messi’s demeanor has suggested growing frustration with his MLS project, coming to a head on Wednesday night when the 37-year-old seemed to be within moments of receiving an needless second yellow card for dissent from referee Joe Dickerson following a 3-3 draw at the San Jose Earthquakes.

The result continued a stretch of only one win in six across all competitions for a Miami team that began the funk looking impotent in attack, and has now resumed its 2024 habit of being wide open in defense.

Messi and his trio friends/former FC Barcelona teammates in Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba are not getting any younger. And in interviews since that initial media session with Garber, Messi himself has reiterated the message that at this point in his career, what matters most is happiness, not achievements. The two go hand in hand with someone as competitive as the Argentine all-time great. But there is still a real difference between Messi now and Messi before he finally filled the one hole in his resume by helping Argentina to a 2022 World Cup title.

Alba’s Extension Likely a Bare Minimum

On the heels of that turbulent #MLSAfterDark affair in Northern California, Miami on Thursday announced it had reached a contract extension with Alba, the youngest member of the Blaugrana at age 36, to keep him with the Herons through 2027.

Through an American sports prism in particular, it can be tempting to view this as real progress toward getting Messi to extend his own deal beyond the current season. And based on previous reporting, it still seems considerably more likely than not that Messi will play in Miami at least until the 2026 World Cup, as he is still a regular Argentina national team contributor.

But Alba’s extension is much less of true harbringer of Messi’s future than you might think. The better way to consider it is as a precondition of the Herons doing the minimum to make Messi happy beyond this season.

More than Busquets and even Suarez, Alba has been Messi’s most reliable co-conspirator since the pair arrived in MLS more or less together.

Messi has been the primary provider on two of Alba’s five league goals, and Alba on five of Messi’s 26 in league play. That’s the continuation of a bond that worked for a decade-plus at Barca. And as worn down as Messi appears to be mentally by playing with a team who at times struggles react to his World-class instincts, it’s almost imaginable he would remain in Florida without such a trusted confidant.

The feeling is also probably mutual. While Alba now has security for the next two seasons, at 36 and himself no longer a part of the Spanish national team setup, it feels unlikely he would force the Herons to see out his contract if this project falls apart.

That’s the dynamic you have to understand about Miami: Messi’s mere presence gives the club negotiating leverage with almost any player they covet, because nearly every player on earth would consider taking a discount to play with the man recognized as the greatest potential teammate on earth. It applies doubly so to a veteran also secure in his own career legacy for club and country, in the twilight of his own career.

Why Alba’s Extension May Help Miami

If anything, the contract gives Miami some insurance should Messi leave, and maybe some flexibility if he stays.

If Messi reverses course and calls it a career after 2025, Alba probably has the highest value of the remaining former FCB players. He could conceivably fetch a nominal but real transfer fee if he were decide to keep playing as a bench player in Europe, perhaps at Valencia where he spent his early La Liga career, or elsewhere in Spain.

It’s also possible the extension has included a contract re-negotiation for this season in exchange for more total money over the entire term. That could allow Miami to potentially use Allocation Money to buy down Alba’s salary charge and remove his Designated Player tag within MLS roster rules, allowing the Herons to make another big splash in the summer transfer window.