Lionel Messi Set to Acquire Eldense in Segunda División

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

According to a report in Spanish daily Marca, the Argentine icon has reached a preliminary agreement to buy Eldense, the recently promoted Segunda División club from the town of Elda in Alicante. If the deal is finalised, it will mark his first move into ownership in Spanish professional football and deepen a business footprint he has started to build quietly but deliberately.

Earlier this year, Messi acquired Cornellà, a Catalan third-division side. Eldense would take that strategy up a level. From the outskirts of Barcelona to the south of the Valencian Community, he is stitching together a network that keeps him close to the country where he became a legend – and to the region where he plans to settle once his playing days at Inter Miami are over.

Full control, clear intention

Messi is not dipping a toe in. The report states he will acquire 100% of Eldense’s shares, with no third-party partners involved. Total control, total responsibility.

Behind it lies a straightforward idea: to reinvest his legacy back into the game. Not through flashy vanity projects, but through clubs fighting for survival and relevance in the crowded landscape of Spanish football.

Eldense, promoted to the Segunda División and based in a modest city better known for its footwear industry than its footballing glamour, fits that profile. The club’s geography adds another layer: Elda sits relatively close to Catalonia, where Messi intends to live after retirement. Business, sentiment and logistics all align.

A club in flux

The move would also cap a turbulent decade for Eldense off the pitch. The club last changed hands in October 2015, when an international investment group with Colombian roots, led by businessman Juan Carlos Trujillo, bought it from Pascual Pérez.

In recent months, rumours swirled around another potential buyer: Argentine Ricardo Beni, reportedly weighing a takeover worth around 12 million euros. That story never crystallised. Now, with Messi’s name attached, the noise has returned with far greater force and far more global attention.

The deal is not done yet. Legal and contractual work remains, including financial due diligence. Spain’s National Sports Council must also give its approval before Eldense can officially pass into Messi’s hands. Completion is expected within the next few days if all procedures clear without complications.

Crisis on the pitch

While the boardroom moves toward a new era, the pitch tells a harsher story.

Eldense have started the season badly. Two points from four league matches, no wins, and already the first coaching casualty in the Segunda División. Coach Claudio Barragán was sacked last Monday, a brutal reminder of how unforgiving the second tier can be. The club has yet to appoint his replacement.

It is into this uncertainty that Messi’s project would step. A struggling squad, a vacant dugout, and a fan base looking for direction. The timing is striking: a global superstar considering a full takeover just as the team hits its first crisis of the campaign.

If the signatures arrive and the council’s stamp follows, Eldense will move from a low-profile investment vehicle to one of the most watched projects in Spanish football. The question will not be whether Messi can own a club.

It will be whether he can help build one.