By TIM REYNOLDS, Related Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi has lastly agreed to a brand new contract with Inter Miami, a deal that required a number of months to finish and ensures that the game’s greatest icon can be with the Main League Soccer membership for its deliberate transfer into a brand new stadium subsequent 12 months.
The deal was introduced Thursday, someday earlier than Inter Miami’s playoff opener in opposition to Nashville. Messi’s workforce — the No. 3 seed within the Jap Convention — will play host to Sport 1 of that best-of-three sequence on Friday evening.
The workforce introduced the transfer in a social media submit, one displaying Messi signing the contract inside the brand new stadium that is still below development. “HE’S HOME,” the workforce stated within the submit.
San Jose Earthquakes’ Daniel Munie (5) runs after the ball in opposition to Inter Miami CF’s Lionel Messi (10) in the course of the second half at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Could 14, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Space Information Group)
Inter Miami stated it was a three-year deal by 2028. The notion of Messi taking part in two or three extra seasons definitely would function a lift to ticket gross sales on the stadium the workforce has been constructing close to Miami Worldwide Airport. The workforce has been promoting ticket packages and taking deposits on seats within the new park for greater than a 12 months, all with the belief that Messi would stay a part of the franchise.
Messi’s determination to remain in Miami is massive for each the membership and for MLS. He was the league’s MVP final season and is the overwhelming option to win the award once more this 12 months, which might make him solely the second two-time winner in league historical past and the primary to win it in back-to-back years. Preki received the MVP award in 1997 and 2003.
“To enjoy him, watching him enjoy doing the things he is doing, he’s very, very competitive and he tries to translate that to the team,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano stated Thursday. “One of the best ways to assist him is making an attempt to do the fitting issues … he needs to be snug on the pitch. He’s snug when issues are working in the fitting approach.
“With him, when we do things the right way, we’ll have many chances to have success.”
Messi received MLS’ Golden Boot this season after scoring 29 objectives, 5 greater than LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and Nashville’s Sam Surridge. He additionally had 19 assists, and his 48 complete purpose contributions was one shy of matching the MLS report of 49 set by Carlos Vela in 2019.
This season, Messi had a number of objectives in 5 consecutive video games — making him the primary MLS participant to attain such a feat — and had 10 multigoal video games, one other league report. The earlier mark was eight such video games.
Messi is 38, which makes this contract possible his final as an expert participant. He has spent properly over half his life taking part in on the professional stage, making his debut with Barcelona as a 17-year-old in 2004.
Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi (10) dribbles previous San Jose Earthquakes’ Daniel Munie (5) in the course of the second half of an MLS soccer match at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Could 14, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
It isn’t clear how lengthy Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner and usually thought-about the game’s greatest star, plans to maintain taking part in. He led Argentina to the World Cup title in 2022; his nation will goal to defend that trophy when the event is performed subsequent June and July within the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
His Inter Miami workforce will look totally different in 2026, for sure. Messi agreed to affix the membership in July 2023 on what was a 2 1/2-year contract, and it wound up changing into a reunion of longtime Barcelona teammates when he was finally joined by Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez.
Busquets and Alba are each retiring after this season; Alba made the choice to step away simply months after agreeing to a three-year contract. Suarez’s future is unclear, and it’s believed retirement could possibly be an possibility for him as properly.
However Messi will play on, into 2026 anyway. He and the workforce had been closing in towards the end of this drawn-out contract negotiation final month, and it wasn’t clear why it took a number of extra weeks to get Messi to lastly signal the deal.
His first contract with Inter Miami was value an estimated $150 million on the time. It instantly started paying off, with Inter Miami profitable its first trophy — the 2023 Leagues Cup — shortly after he arrived.
Final season, when he received the MLS MVP award for the primary time, he did so whereas lacking 15 of Inter Miami’s 34 regular-season matches due to accidents or commitments to Argentina’s nationwide workforce. Even with these absences, Inter Miami received its first Supporters’ Defend by having MLS’ greatest regular-season report — then received upset within the first spherical of the playoffs.
The membership has seen an enormous rise in international recognition with Messi on the roster. His pink No. 10 jersey has been MLS’ highest vendor since he joined the league, and he has added to his large off-field enterprise empire since coming to the U.S. — even starring in a Tremendous Bowl advert final 12 months.
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Initially Revealed: October 23, 2025 at 8:08 AM PDT
