Lionel Messi says Inter Miami will be ‘my last club’

Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi reacts during the friendly soccer match between Vissel Kobe and Inter Miami CF at the National Stadium, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Lionel Messi says Inter Miami will be “my last club.”

The 36-year-old World Cup champion isn’t thinking about joining an Argentine club to write the last chapter of playing career.

“I think Inter Miami is going to be my last club. Today I think it is going to be my last club,” the Argentina captain said in an interview with ESPN.

Messi is preparing with his national team to compete in the Copa América in the United States. Argentina is the defending champion.

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The former Barcelona star has nothing left to prove in the game and filled the only significant unchecked box on his resume by leading Argentina to the World Cup title in Qatar in 2022.

He has won a record eight Ballon d’Or awards and left European football last year to join the MLS club.

Messi’s contract with Inter Miami is set to expire at the end of the 2025 season.

“It was a difficult step to leave Europe to come here,” he said. “Having become a world champion helped a lot, and also to see things differently. But I don’t think about it. I try to enjoy. That’s why I enjoy everything much more, because I am aware that there is less and less to go and I have a good time.”

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Many Argentine fans hoped Messi would close his career with Newell’s Old Boys, the club where he began his training as a child in his native city of Rosario.

The star said he’s trying to enjoy the final stretch of his career to the fullest.

“I have a good time at the club, I am lucky enough to have teammates and friends (Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, all former Barcelona players) by my side,” he said. “I had a good time in the national team, where I have teammates and friends too.

“I enjoy the little details that I know that when I don’t play anymore, I’m going to miss,” he added. “My whole life I did this. I love playing ball and I enjoy training, day-to-day life and match days. And yes, there is always the fear that everything will end.”