With Lionel Messi facing MLS crossroads, insiders give strong hint about Inter Miami future

11/12/2024 10:56 AM

It wasn't supposed to end like this.

A record points total in the regular season was intended as the
warm-up for the final act, in which Lionel Messi and his superstar Inter Miami team rode their wave all the way to MLS Cup glory in the playoffs.

Instead, David Beckham's franchise are out, their season ending at the hands of Atlanta United and former Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

Messi managed 21 goals and 11 assists in 22 MLS games, further confirming his ongoing supremacy, while Inter Miami's 76 points in the regular season ended up being six more than second place in the Eastern Conference and 15 more than the third-place finisher.

But after Round 1, the best of three series that leads i nto the Conference Semifinals, Miami have been eliminated.

It's definitely not how FIFA — or Apple TV, who helped fund Messi's contract — hoped things would go.

FIFA handed Inter Miami a place in next summer's Club World Cup following the regular season, and what was seen as a dramatically premature decision at the time now looks ridiculous.

No one considers the winners of the Supporters Shield the MLS Champions.

That's just not how it works.

Messi and his teammates won something, but without postseason success, that victory is more of an asterisk than anything else.

So what next for Messi and his team?

The Argentina captain is now entering the final season of his guaranteed contract with Miami.

Across two seasons, he and his team have little to show for it — at least in tangible terms.

His first year ended in injury, as Miami missed the postseason.

It was disappointment again this time around.

Meanwhile, Messi has made no secret of his desire to win and win during the twilight of his career.

Following a second year of relative nothingness in the US, could he look elsewhere to find that success?

Inter Miami podcast La Familia expressed optimism around Messi's future in South Florida.

"Messi is very comfortable in Miami," La Familia exclusively told talkSPORT. "I think he will finish his career in Miami. Here in Miami, he has a lot of freedom, the people are very calm, there is no pressure on him and that makes him feel very good.

"But I also know that Messi is a competitive machine and this early elimination in the playoffs may make him doubt (his future with Inter Miami) but I think he will at least finish his contract until the World Cup."

There is significant evidence to believe that Messi will end his career with Miami, nothing more convincing than the legend's own words.

“I think Inter Miami is going to be my last club," Messi told ESPN this summer. "Today I think it is going to be my last club.

“I have a good time at the club, I am lucky enough to have teammates and friends [former Barcelona players Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba] by my side.

“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.

“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.”

Inter Miami fans can partly thank his nation's World Cup success for his likely continued career in Florida.

Messi admitted that his outlook on football and life changed with that glorious triumph.

Perhaps more importantly, though, Miami has much of what Messi has reportedly been searching for.

More than 60 percent of Miami residents speak Spanish, while no other US metropolis boasts a comparable concentration of Latin-American culture.

Messi is said to not only be enjoying his football in Miami, but perhaps more importantly, he and his family are enjoying life in Miami — something that wasn't always the case in his previous sojourns in Barcelona and Paris.

But with all that said, Messi prizes winning and he'll need to see progress from his team.

Throughout the season, Messi's team had been susceptible to counter-attacking football, the strategy utilized so successfully by Mexican club Monterey who dumped them out of the Concacaf Champions League.

Atlanta scored six goals across the three playoff games against
Inter Miami, once again displaying the powerhouse's frailties.

Meanwhile, the hosts of Inter Miami podcast Heron Heads explained what the club could do this offseason to ensure Messi's continued presence.

"Continuing to build a proper team around him will make his future decisions easier," the hosts exclusively told talkSPORT. "I believe Messi, David Beckham, and the Mas brothers have an understanding as to how long he is playing.

"I do not believe he would have agreed to come here without a plan.

“The Saudis offered a lot of money but I think the lifestyle, stability, and control of his situation here ultimately dictates why he stays and stays happy.

“At this stage of his career, he is putting family first and being in Miami makes that much easier.”

The team's defensive record will need to be addressed if Inter Miami are to go all the way next year.

But expectations from supporters and seemingly Messi himself is that the relationship will continue, at least until the conclusion of his current contract.

“A season ended in which we continued to grow as a club and, although we achieved some goals, we wanted more,” Messi wrote on Instagram following Inter Miami's surprise elimination.

“Thanks to all the people who joined and supported us. Now let’s get ready to come back stronger next year.”

At least they have the Club World Cup to look forward to.

FIFA made sure of that and the chance to make more history in the inaugural edition of this version of the competition should play a real role in keeping Messi at the club.

"Messi is the ultimate competitor and he strives for hardware," the Heron Heads Podcast continued. "He has said that he is committed to this club.

"He has already added two trophies to this club’s previously barren cabinet and I know he relishes the opportunity to continue adding.

“Messi has found success everywhere that he has been and has faced hardships everywhere as well. This chapter is no different."