Lionel Messi Set to Acquire Segunda División Club Eldense

Lionel Messi is preparing to swap the penalty area for the boardroom in Spanish football.

According to Spanish daily Marca, the Argentine icon has reached a preliminary agreement to acquire Eldense, a recently promoted Segunda División club based in Elda, in the province of Alicante. If the deal is completed, it will mark his first move into ownership in Spain’s professional leagues and deepen a footprint he has already started to lay down.

Earlier this year, Messi bought Cornellà, a Catalan third-division side. Eldense would be the next step up: a club now operating in the second tier, a short distance from the region where Messi plans to settle once his playing days at Inter Miami are over.

This is not a minority stake or a marketing partnership. Reports say Messi intends to take full control of the club’s shares, with no third-party investors involved. The project is being framed around a clear idea: channel part of his footballing legacy back into the game itself, via clubs that can be reshaped, rebuilt and, in time, potentially reimagined.

The timing is striking. Eldense are in turmoil on the pitch. They have collected just two points from their opening four league fixtures, and last Monday they dismissed coach Claudio Barragán — the first managerial casualty of the Segunda División season. The team is drifting, the bench is empty, and the stands are waiting for a sign of direction.

Behind the scenes, the club has already lived one major transformation. In October 2015, an international investment group with Colombian roots, led by businessman Juan Carlos Trujillo, took control from Pascual Pérez. More recently, speculation linked Argentine figure Ricardo Beni with a possible takeover valued at around 12 million euros. That move never materialised. Now Messi’s name has surged back into the conversation with far greater force.

The agreement is not yet sealed. Legal and contractual work is still in motion, including financial due diligence, and the operation must receive the green light from Spain’s National Sports Council. Completion is expected within days if all conditions are met.

Eldense, a club fighting to stabilise in the second division, could soon be steered by one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen. The question is no longer whether Messi will shape Spanish football again — but whether his influence will now be felt from the directors’ box as much as it once was from the edge of the box.