Lionel Messi urges MLS to give clubs 'more freedom' in the transfer market

Tom Weber

• Updated: 28 Oct 2025 14:24 CDT
• 4 min read

News

Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi has urged Major League Soccer to give its clubs 'more freedom' in the transfer market.

The Argentine megastar recently signed a contract extension with Inter Miami, which is set to keep him at the club until 2028, by which point he will be 41.

Despite his advanced age, Messi is still one of the best players in world football, and he has shown that on a weekly basis in MLS since joining in 2023.

During the 2025 regular season, the 38-year-old fell just one goal contribution short of equalling Carlos Vela's all-time record of 49, while he comfortably claimed the Golden Boot with 29 goals.

Miami have been able to sign Messi and his close friends - Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Rodrigo de Paul - due to smart financial maneuvering and by stretching MLS's roster mechanisms to their limits.

Messi calls for liberalization of MLS transfer rules

Unlike most leagues around the world, MLS has very strict roster rules that clubs need to adhere to. These stringent regulations were implemented to ensure parity, but they have had to evolve the more the league has grown.

David Beckham's arrival in 2007 led to the implementation of the Designated Player (DP) rule, which allows MLS clubs to pay a certain number of players whatever they want while only incurring a limited hit to their salary cap. This rule has changed over time, too, with young players now falling under a different categorisation.

In the 2010s, MLS invented Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) to allow clubs to sign more foreign talent without necessarily having to use up a DP spot, and this year, a cash-for-player system was created, enabling clubs to make up to four (two in, two out) intra-league trades for unlimited transfer fees.

However, some voices believe that this evolution of roster rules has been unable to keep up with MLS's development in recent years. Miami superstar Messi has now joined this growing chorus.

Speaking in a rare interview with NBC, the veteran voiced his belief that MLS is ready to adopt the transfer model of the rest of the world and called for a liberalization of the market.

"Every team should have the opportunity to bring in players and sign whoever each team wants without limitations or rules for players to bring them in," Messi said.

"I don’t think that today all teams in the United States, all clubs, have the power to do that, and I think that if they were given the freedom, many more important players would come and help the growth of the United States."

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