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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Guardian sport

Lionel Messi’s agents deny reports star will become Inter Miami player-owner

Lionel Messi
PSG forward Lionel Messi looks on during and April match against Strasbourg RC. Photograph: Sébastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images

Lionel Messi will reportedly acquire 35% of shares in Inter Miami and then join the MLS club when his contract with Paris Saint-Germain ends next year.

The report from DirecTV Sports Argentina correspondent Alex Candal on Tuesday indicated “the contract is done and will be signed in August”, despite a series of denials from people close to the Argentina international.

Messi, who owns a condo in Miami Beach, has long been linked with a late-career move to the three-year-old Major League Soccer club. But those rumors were given new life on Monday when Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham posted Instagram photos of himself with PSG stars Messi, Neymar, Sergio Ramos and Kylian Mbappe.

Messi’s agents told Le Parisien the report “is completely false, Leo has not yet decided on his future. And if Leo Messi has crossed paths with David Beckham in the last few hours, it is only as part of PSG’s stay in Doha where the former English midfielder plays a role as an ambassador for the next World Cup in Qatar.”

Jorge Mas, Inter Miami’s other prominent co-owner, addressed the long-simmering Messi-to-Miami rumors in Feburary, saying the club would leap at the opportunity to offer the longtime Barcelona star a contract offer when his PSG days are done.

“Leo Messi is still one of the best players in the world, his skills have not diminished,” Inter Miami co-owner and executive director Jorge Mas told the Miami Herald back in February.

“I believe, and David [Beckham] has a relationship with him, that if he leaves PSG, at the time he leaves PSG we would love to have Messi as a player at Inter Miami and be part of our community.

“Can it happen? We will push. I’m an optimist at heart - can I see it happening? It’s a possibility.”

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