Lionel Messi just said the quiet part out loud about his Barcelona friends retiring | OneFootball

Lionel Messi is still going strong at the age of 38, scoring goals and racking up assists for fun at Inter Miami. Considering how much he has achieved in his career, this would not come as a shock to any football fan in the world.

But even for him, there is a time to hang up the boots. It has not come yet, and it will likely be a few more years until it happens, but it will.

Messi will be able to play on for much longer than almost any football player in the history of the game because of how well he takes care of his body and how high his footballing IQ is.

Whether he would want to play for that long is a completely different story, though.

All of Messi's friends around him - especially those who have played with him for several years, are slowly but surely retiring from the sport.

Busquets and Alba retiring must have hit Lionel Messi hard

Jordi Alba, who has been Messi's partner in crime for a decade, has decided to hang up his boots.

Sergio Busquets, too, is retiring from the professional game at the end of the season.

Messi was asked about it, to which he gave an honest reply that will move most people who love him and the team he plays for.

He said: "Honestly, it's difficult. First, because you see that you have dedicated your entire professional life to football, that the people around you are starting to leave, and you realise that your own time will also come soon."

It is understandable for Messi to think that way. He is in the conversation constantly for being the best player in history, but somehow, people forget that he is still human.

So, naturally, people around him retiring would give him something to think about. Something exactly like this.

It is not always about how long you can continue playing for. There are many players - some of which are Messi's counterparts - who love the game so much they want to keep playing until they cannot keep their level up.

For Messi, it is a bit different. He has achieved everything in football. He has won trophies, won Ballon d'Ors, and has achieved more than anyone else can possibly dream of.

So, for him, it does not have to be that he plays until the wheels fall off. He would simply play until he wants to play, which could change after a few of his friends retire.

Messi will definitely stick around for a bit longer though, having just signed a contract extension at Inter Miami. However, it is not yet known whether he would want to continue playing as a football player after his new contract expires.