The idea of Messi pulling on a Newell’s shirt again has quietly stopped being folklore and started looking like a diary entry.
Medina broke cover earlier in the year, telling Argentine broadcaster Todo Noticias that the club was in the planning phase for a short-term return. In comments relayed by Sports Illustrated, he said: “We are working on Leo playing for Newell’s in the first half of 2027, but for now there is nothing more than that.”
Medina framed the move as more than a club project.
“It’s a project that goes beyond Newell’s. It’s a project for the city of Rosario, the province and Argentine football,” he told Todo Noticias.
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Rosario journalist: ‘never been as close’
The temperature went up again this week. According to reporting from Rosario journalist Gonzalo Calvigioni, relayed on 29 October 2026, Newell’s have now opened conversations with Inter Miami to try to turn the plan into a signed loan, with Messi “never as close to a return to Newell’s Old Boys as he is now.”
A collaborator of the Newell’s leadership told the Argentine outlet the organisational detail still needs working through, “even though there is interest in moving forward.”
Why January 2027 is structurally possible
A six-month loan in the middle of an MLS contract would normally be a non-starter. The calendar is what makes this one unusual.
MLS ownership voted in November 2025 to align the league with the European season, and the 2027 transition campaign is scheduled to run only from February to May 2027 before a long summer break ahead of the first full summer-to-spring season.
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That gap, running from the end of the 2026 MLS Cup playoffs into the delayed start of 2027, is what Newell’s are targeting. The Argentine Apertura, under the format approved by the AFA for 2027, kicks off in late January and runs into May, allowing Messi to play a full short tournament in Rosario before returning to Florida for the MLS summer.
Inter Miami contract runs to 2028
Any loan has to come through Inter Miami, who hold the player. Messi signed a contract extension on 23 October 2025 that keeps him tied to the MLS club through the 2028 season.
Inter Miami have not publicly addressed the Newell’s proposal, and no agreement has been signed.
Medina has not put a figure or a date on an announcement, and both the Yahoo Sports relay of his Todo Noticias interview and this week’s reporting from El Intransigente stress that nothing is formally decided.
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Messi, now 39, left Rosario for Barcelona in 2001 at the age of 13 and never played a senior match for Newell’s. If the January 2027 plan comes off, it would be the first time he represents the club he grew up supporting.
The Argentine Apertura 2027 is scheduled to begin in late January.
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