6 Champions League winners who could join Lionel Messi in MLS in 2025
Lionel Messi isn’t the only footballing superstar with a Champions League winner’s medal under his belt seeing out his twilight years in Major League Soccer – and the club could be set to grow in 2025.
Messi’s Inter Miami team-mates Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba are of course part of the existing club, but there’s also Olivier Giroud at LAFC and it looks as though more modern-day greats of the European game could be moving stateside soon enough.
We’ve identified six big-name Champions League winners that could potentially sign for an MLS club next year.
Sergio Ramos
The legendary former Real Madrid captain appears to have taken the novel approach of come-and-get-me social media posts – call them footballing thirst traps – that demonstrate he’s still ridiculously fit and raring to go, training hard at home since leaving boyhood club Sevilla for a second time in the summer.
Call us cynical but we’d be surprised if they weren’t at least partly directed towards Florentino Perez and Carlo Ancelotti, given the defensive injury crisis his old club are going through. But it doesn’t look like Los Blancos are going to bite, leaving Ramos assessing his options elsewhere.
Saudi Arabia and the United States remain the veteran centre-back’s likeliest destinations. A full pre-season ahead of the 2025 MLS campaign would make sense for a player that’s been without a club for the past half a season.
Keylor Navas
Having lined up alongside Ramos in Real Madrid’s Champions League three-peat era, pedigree doesn’t come much greater than Navas’.
Admittedly, more recently the Costa Rican has been struggling to pull up any trees at Nottingham Forest, warming the bench at PSG and struggling to find a club in more recent times.
Like Ramos, as a free agent he’d make lots of sense for a proven designated player slot.
Kevin De Bruyne
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are all approaching the end of their current deals but we’d be amazed if the Liverpool trio don’t continue in European football next season or beyond, be it at Anfield or elsewhere.
The same can’t be said for Manchester City talisman De Bruyne, who appears to be winding down his career at the very top level. He’s quashed suggestions of a rift with Pep Guardiola, but we’d be surprised if the 33-year-old extends his stay in Manchester.
De Bruyne has not denied that a move to Saudi Arabia would be of interest, while multiple MLS clubs are said to want him. The most recent reports suggest that David Beckham has made him his top priority at Inter Miami – Lionel Messi’s successor (with a brief period of overlap)? Messi himself is out of contract at the end of the 2025 MLS campaign, albeit with an option to extend for another year that would seemingly suit all parties.
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Ilkay Gundogan
The German signed a one-year deal upon his return to Manchester City, with an option for a second year. But the early signs are that Gundogan has lost a certain degree of intensity since that year in Barcelona and he may well decide to see out his twilight years elsewhere.
“Because of my roots, Turkey is naturally interesting,” the 34-year-old told German outlet Sport1 back in 2022.
“I also like the USA, I’ve been there on vacation several times.”
James Rodriguez
Fresh from being named the Player of the Tournament at this summer’s Copa America, having played a glittering role in Colombia’s run to the final, Rodriguez returned to the European game following wilderness years away in Qatar and Brazil.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t really kicked on since signing for Rayo Vallecano. He seems an awkward fit for the high-intensity, all-action style demanded by Andoni Iraola’s former right-hand man Inigo Perez. He’s made just one start in La Liga so far this season and barely racked up any minutes, so it would make sense for him to swiftly move on.
After shining in a number of American grounds in the summer, perhaps he fancies trying his luck in the club game. Reports from the States suggest he’s on Inter Miami’s radar, but we’d take those with a pinch of salt.
Neymar
The Brazilian superstar has played a grand total of 428 minutes since his big-money move away from PSG a couple of years back. It’s been nothing short of an injury-ravaged nightmare in the Saudi Pro League for the 32-year-old and it might be over before its even begun, with his contract with Al-Hilal set to expire at the end of the season.
Neymar’s peak years might’ve been full of disappointment but we could see him eyeing a late-career redemption arc at the 2026 World Cup with Brazil. And where better for him to get himself back on track?
You’ll be shocked to hear the rumour mill has gone into overdrive tipping him to reunite with his old Barcelona pals in Miami. Watch this space.