First of all, we should make it clear that Messi is not for sale. However, according to the rules of contracts, every club that can afford his clause can actually sign Messi.
But before they pay millions and millions of dollars, Messi would have to agree on leaving Barcelona. That’s not going to happen, as long as he’s welcome to Barcelona.
It’s not like Barcelona never received a transfer offer for Messi. He just wasn’t interested in any of them. He’s already playing for the best club in the world, why would he go elsewhere?
“When I was President we received many offers for Messi from clubs, including Inter, that were willing to pay his buyout clause,” Laporta, the former Barcelona president said.
“But I always said that the sale of the Argentine was impossible.”
The club and the fans would love to see Messi retire at Barcelona, and Messi has the same plans as well.
An unknown Russian club was willing to pay 250+ million dollars to sign Messi, and they even offered him 40 million dollars per season in salary.
But Messi said no!
Even R. Madrid tried to sign Messi
Some reports claim that R. Madrid approached Barcelona in 2011 with the intentions to sign Messi. But let’s say Messi decides to leave, R. Madrid would probably be the last option for him. We’re talking about a rival club, and transfers between these two are almost impossible.
We all remember the Luis Figo story, but Messi is different. He’s the best player we’ve ever seen, and Barcelona will never sell him in first place.
But R. Madrid still decided to take a shot.
Cristiano Ronaldo was linked to Man City move in 2011, and Florentino Perez gave the go-ahead on the “try to sign Messi” project.
If not R. Madrid, who can really sign Messi?
Stephen Morrow is a senior lecturer in sports finance at Stirling University, and he has the answer:
“Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid are the clubs that have the financial backing and the profile to attract a player of his stature.”
“However, the question they will be asking themselves is ‘can we spend 200 million pounds, plus his wages and stay within the financial fair play (FFP) rules?”
“Any club that signs Messi will need to have recurring football income to cope with the cost of buying him. So of these five clubs, only Manchester United and Real Madrid have diversified income streams. “
But we’re already 100% sure that Messi will never join R. Madrid, which means Man Utd are the only option:
“Given his standing at Barcelona, you can’t really see him going to Madrid. So that only leaves Manchester United who could financially cope with signing Messi and maintain the FFP limit.”
He highly doubts that Man Utd or any other club will sign Messi. If he ever leaves Barcelona, he will return to Argentina and finish his career at the club where it all begin.
