Lionel Messi ‘not ready to leave’ soccer, thinks Inter Miami will be his ‘last club’

As he gears up to lead Argentina in defense of its 2020 Copa América title, soccer superstar Lionel Messi said he’s “not prepared to leave” the sport of which he has become the global face, especially after his 2022 World Cup triumph. But the 36-year-old also admitted “there’s not a lot of time left” in his career, and that MLS squad Inter Miami will be his “last club” in an interview with ESPN Argentina.

Messi joined Inter Miami in June 2023, less than six months after completing his expansive trophy collection by leading Argentina to victory over France in the dramatic 2022 World Cup Final. It was seen as a paradigm-shifting move for Major League Soccer, similar to when Inter Miami owner David Beckham came to the LA Galaxy during his own playing career.

Messi’s comments about Inter Miami deal a blow to some fans’ long-held belief that he would finish his club career playing for his boyhood team, Newell’s Old Boys, in Argentina. 

Inter Miami went from one of the MLS’s worst teams in 2023, missing the playoffs despite Messi’s midseason arrival, to leading the Eastern Conference standings in 2024, even as Messi has missed some time this season due to hamstring and knee injuries. Miami has also been bolstered by the arrivals of Messi’s former Barcelona teammates Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, with Messi’s longtime Argentina running mate Angel Di Maria also linked to the club over the past month.

Messi won four UEFA Champions League titles, 10 La Liga titles and seven Copa del Rey titles with Barcelona, the club he signed with as a teenager in 2000 and played for until 2021. But he had never won a major international trophy until Argentina defeated archival Brazil in the final of the pandemic-delayed Copa América in 2021. 

“I’ve done this all of my life; I love playing ball,” Messi told ESPN. “I enjoy the practices and the day-to-day, the games. Yeah, there’s a bit of fear that it’s all ending. It’s always there. It was a difficult step leaving Europe to come [to Miami].

“The fact we won the World Cup helped, it helped a lot, to see things in another way. But I try not to think about it. I try to enjoy it. I do that more now because I’m aware that there’s not a lot of time left. So I have a good time with the club, being lucky having good teammates and friends at my side. I enjoy my time with the national team, where I also have good friends, too, and a lot. I enjoy those small details that I know I’ll miss when I stop playing.”

Messi returned to Argentina after a six-month absence, playing as a second-half substitute in the team’s 1-0 win Sunday in a Copa América tuneup friendly against Ecuador. He missed his national team’s friendlies in the March international window due to a hamstring injury he had sustained while playing for Inter Miami in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Argentina opens the 2024 Copa América against Canada in Atlanta on June 20, with kickoff time set for 5 p.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports App.

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