David Beckham knows where Lionel Messi is going next

Messi’s Inter Miami contract keeps him at the club until the end of 2025. Beyond that, his future is up in the air.

Incredibly, Lionel Messi may currently be gearing up for his final season with Inter Miami. When the Argentine arrived to nationwide fanfare in the summer of 2023, he signed a deal that would keep him at the club for two and a half years.

There is the option to extend for a further year, but Messi would be free to leave Inter Miami and MLS at the end of the 2025 season if he so chooses. It would be a major blow for the Herons, who would dearly love for him to remain for the first season of the new Freedom Park stadium next year.

Speaking last year co-owner Jorge Mas insisted that he expects Messi to stay for 2026; now his fellow co-owner David Beckham has had his say on Messi’s future. Beckham didn’t reference Messi’s on-field plans but he is in no doubt about where the Inter Miami captain will go when he finally hangs up his boots.

“I would like Messi to live in Miami when he retires, but Leo told me that he only thinks about living near the Camp Nou," Beckham said. “There is no player who loves Barcelona as much as he does. You can see the Barca crest on his leg and even on his water bottle.”

David Beckham in ‘the land of opportunity’

Whatever Inter Miami go on to achieve this year, or even the next, the signing of Lionel Messi has been a resounding success. The Herons were the ‘most searched’ soccer team of 2024 and the pink ‘Messi 10′ jersey has become ubiquitous around the world.

Beckham was heavily involved in the effort to bring Messi to the league and he stands to gain handsomely from the boost in interest that the signing has garnered. Inter Miami has been Beckham’s primary focus since retiring in 2013 and he revealed that he is very proud of the progress that he and the club have made.

“I have always believed in potential. You know, the United States is a powerful country, one of the biggest countries with the best opportunities and you believe in that,” he explained.

“When I moved to the United States, I knew it was a land of opportunity. I knew I wanted to live in the United States at some point and create a business like the one we have done. Now I sit in my chair, in Miami, in that stadium and Leo walks onto the field and I think ‘I’m very proud of that’.”