Lionel Messi plots club ownership and business empire as life after Argentina begins

Having brought the curtain down on his Argentina career with an emotional farewell at a sold-out Monumental in Buenos Aires, Lionel Messi is already shaping what comes next — and it looks increasingly like a future as an owner and businessman as much as a player.

The 39-year-old will continue his club career with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, but the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is also making moves to enter the world of football club ownership. According to BBC Sport, he already owns two clubs — Spanish fifth-tier side UE Cornella and second-tier CD Eldense — as well as being a partner in the restaurant chain El Club de la Milanesa, which plans to open five branches in Catalonia.

His commercial interests stretch far beyond the game: Messi has a lifetime deal with Adidas, a collection with drinkware brand Stanley, and investments in the property and hotel industries.

"Coach Lionel Scaloni insists that if Messi ever wants to carry on, he can, and there is no embarrassment in changing one's mind. But that chapter seems closed," football expert Guillem Balague told BBC Sport.

"Ask the people around him what comes after that and they smile, because Messi has never really planned beyond his next game. Even so, the shape of what lies ahead is already in front of us. He will stay inside football, because he would struggle to live without it, but his other business interests stretch far outside the game."

Messi leaves international football as Argentina's record appearance-maker and record goalscorer, with a World Cup and two Copa América titles among his honours, having signed off with a goal in a 3-0 win over Benin on his 208th and final cap for La Albiceleste.