On November 27, Inter Miami officially announced coach Javier Mascherano as the team’s new coach. At the same time, president and co-owner David Beckham offered to extend Messi’s contract until he turns 40.
In announcing the appointment of Javier Mascherano, David Beckham said: “Throughout his career as one of the world’s best players and as an experienced coach, Javier has demonstrated what makes him great – his relentless determination, knowledge, instinct and understanding. We are delighted to welcome him to lead our team.”
Coach Javier Mascherano will sign a contract to lead Inter Miami until the end of 2027. On December 3, the 40-year-old former Argentine and Barcelona player will have a press conference and meet the media in the US. Javier Mascherano will start working at the new team from January 10, 2025.
This will be Javier Mascherano’s first club-level coaching job, after serving as head coach of the U.20 and Olympic teams of Argentina from 2022 to the end of 2024. His highest achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the men’s football at the 2024 Paris Olympics with the Argentina Olympic team.
At Inter Miami, coach Javier Mascherano will lead former teammates such as famous players Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez. In addition, there are other Argentine players in the squad such as Tomas Aviles, Benjamin Cremaschi, Facundo Farias and Federico Redondo. These are the players who have been coached by Javier Mascherano in some stages at the youth level in Argentina. Currently, Benjamin Cremaschi has chosen to play for the US youth teams.
Co-owner of Inter Miami with David Beckham, billionaire Jorge Mas also revealed that the selection of coach Javier Mascherano as the team’s new coach was also consulted with Messi. Messi and Javier Mascherano are also long-time close friends.
Messi’s contract with Inter Miami runs until December 2025. Jorge Mas and David Beckham are planning to extend his contract for another year, with the current clause including an option to extend for the following year.
According to Italian journalist Nicolo Schira, a transfer news expert: “David Beckham intends to not only ask Messi to activate the option to extend his contract until December 2026, but also ask him to sign for another year until December 2027 when the Argentine star turns 40. This contract term also matches the term of coach Javier Mascherano who just signed with Inter Miami.”
Besides renewing Messi’s contract, David Beckham will also try to keep famous players Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez for another 1 to 2 years, because he sees that their abilities are still enough to compete at the highest level.
Previously, Mr. Jorge Mas also expressed about Messi’s future: “Messi still has a contract with Inter Miami until 2025. We will sit down with him to discuss the future. I repeat, I fully expect Messi to be our number 10 player when the new stadium opens in 2026 and certainly play in the 2026 MLS season.”
