Lionel Messi has reportedly agreed a deal in principle to buy Spanish second-tier club Eldense.Diario AS reports that the eight-time Ballon d’Or-winning superstar has reached an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Eldense’s shares.Messi has retired from Argentina duty but is still playing for Inter MiamiGettyThe report adds that Messi’s lawyers had been in talks for some time with the club’s current owners, the Colombian investment group TH – led by Juan Carlos Trujillo.Eldense have just returned to LaLiga2, the second tier of Spanish football, winning promotion back to the division at the first time of asking having been relegated in the 2024/25 season.Based in the Valencian city of Elda, Eldense are managed by former Spain striker Claudio Barragan, who won six caps for La Roja in the early 90s.Founded in 1921, they play their home games at the 5,776-capacity Estadio Municipal Nuevo Pepico Amat.Messi’s involvement already goes beyond the pitchThis wouldn’t be Messi’s first venture into club ownership.The 39-year-old Argentine – who recently announced his retirement from international football following an epic career in which he captained his country to World Cup glory – took full ownership of third-tier outfit Cornella back in April.But Eldense would be the first professional club in his portfolio.Messi’s prospective investment is said to be a solo endeavour without the support of any partners.The greatest of all time?It was in Spain where Messi ascended to all-time great status, during 17 glittering years with Barcelona.A ten-time LaLiga champion and four-time Champions League winner with Barca, Messi played 778 games to top the club’s all time appearances list – not to mention amassing 672 goals to obliterate their all-time scoring record.Messi averaged 0.86 goals per game for BarcelonaGettyHe won six of his eight Ballons d’Or as a Barca player, before leaving in 2021 an undisputed icon.After a two-year stint with Paris Saint-Germain, he headed to MLS to join Inter Miami in 2023.Messi in good company among current prosMessi isn’t the only active player to have dipped their toes into the world of club ownership and he joins, among others, his great contemporary Cristiano Ronaldo.Ronaldo purchased a 25 per cent stake in another LaLiga2 outfit, Almeria, in February this year.Last year, Croatia legend Luka Modric became a minority investor in Championship Swansea City.In 2024, Kylian Mbappe‘s Coalition Capital investment fund bought an 80 per cent stake in French club Caen.And the previous year, fellow France star N’Golo Kante struck a deal to take over as owner of Belgian outfit Royal Excelsior Vitron.