Lionel Messi names post-career plans in ‘appeal to me most’ statement | OneFootball

Lionel Messi says he has no plans to be a coach but instead hopes to start his own club once he eventually hangs up his boots.

One of the greatest players of all time is spending his final playing years out in the United States with David Beckham’s Inter Miami, but at 38, the question has been raised of how long he will keep going.

This summer’s World Cup is expected to be his last, and a recent contract extension has him playing club football until at least 2028, but even the player himself has started to think about what comes next.

While plenty of ex-pros go down the management or pundit route, Messi has rejected either of those options and instead hopes to follow in the footsteps of Beckham by starting his own club.

“I don’t see myself as a coach,” he told Luzu TV.

“I like the idea of being a manager, but I’d prefer to be an owner. I’d like to have my own club, start from the bottom, and make it grow.

“To be able to give the kids the opportunity to develop and achieve something important. If I had to choose, that’s what would appeal to me most.”

Earlier, he told the American Business Forum that “little by little” he was starting to focus on life away from the pitch.

“I like to start looking at what could come next,” he said. “I like the business world; I want to keep learning. I’m just getting started with it.

“I’ve always been 100 per cent dedicated to my profession, but I know that something else is coming – another world – and little by little, I’m getting involved.”

As for whether he has any playing regrets, 12 league titles, four Champions Leagues, eight Ballons d’Or and crucially the World Cup leave Messi with nothing left to want.

“No, what could I still be missing? I was able to do everything,” he said.

“As I always say, God gave me much more than I ever imagined. And everything came at the right moment, because when it felt like it was already impossible, the trophies with the Argentina national team arrived, which was what I wanted the most and the only thing I was missing.

“The Copa America came (in 2021) and I said, ‘Well, at least I won something with the national team.’ And then Qatar happened.

“That’s why the gesture I made to my family after the final was basically saying, ‘That’s it.’ After that, we could all be at peace knowing we had done everything.

“Everything that comes from now on is a gift and I’m more than grateful for everything I’ve been able to live through and achieve.”