Lionel Messi Signs New Contract With Inter Miami
Three-year contract sealed after verbal agreement in place since last week.
Argentine superstar Lionel Messi has signed a new contract with current Major League Soccer team Inter Miami, putting to rest speculations that he may move to an European club before the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the US.
Inter Miami posted a video on X in which Messi was shown signing a new contract with the US club. The post was captioned "HE'S HOME." The video was titled "Forever 10 Dream." The terms of the deal were not declared yet.
"Three-year contract sealed after verbal agreement in place since last week, Messi has put pen to paper," sports journalist Fabrizio Romano reported on Thursday.
Earlier, there were reports that Messi might sign a contract with Serie A side Napoli.
Messi first signed a 2.5-year contract with the MLS team in July 2023 after his World Cup victory with Argentina.
The 38-year-old has been credited with fueling interest in the sport within the US, driving a surge in the valuations of Inter Miami and the wider league. Largely thanks to so-called “Messi mania,” Inter Miami is currently valued at around $1.2 billion, making it the second-most valuable team in the league, according to Forbes.
Inter Miami is set to move to Miami Freedom Park, a sprawling privately-funded hub including a stadium with 25,000-person capacity, at the start of the 2026 season.
The new contract will allow Messi, considered one of the greatest players of all time, to continue playing competitive soccer leading up to the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada with several games scheduled to be hosted in Miami.
(With Bloomberg inputs)
