Lionel Messi is welcome to play for Argentina in the Olympics next summer, but it’s not clear if he’ll jump at the chance.

The Argentine U-20 team hasn’t made it to the Paris Olympics yet, but Messi’s old friend and partner Javier Mascherano is coaching them.

The man who used to play for Barcelona and Liverpool would love to have the star player from Inter-Miami play for his team. Based on what Mascherano told Marca, “Leo has an open door to the national team to do whatever he wishes.” 

There will be room for him if we make it to the Olympics and he wants to go. My friendship with him is strong, and I would love it if we could get together. 

Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee, would also love to see Messi in Paris. Bach said, “It would be great if he could be here.” “It would be a chance for Lionel Messi to write history all over again.” He might be the only player in history to win two gold medals and a World Cup.

The Olympics let three players over 23 years old be on each team, so Messi’s age of 36 wouldn’t stop him.

But the forward is likely to play in the Copa America earlier in the summer. That would mean he would play in two international events in a row during the middle of the MLS season.

Messi has always been very interested in the Olympics. In 2008, he won a gold medal with Argentina.

In 2020, Mail Sport wrote that Messi had a very hard time getting Barcelona to let him go to the event.

He later stated that he cried during preseason training because club president Joan Laporta didn’t want him to.

Pep Guardiola finally gave him clearance, and he got back to Barcelona with a gold medal and a lot of energy for the next season.