BEVERLY HILLS, October 16, (THEWILL) – At a time in 2014, when Messi’s release clause was a staggering €250m, Chelsea are alleged to have come close to signing Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi in what would have been a world record transfer.
Negotiations with the talismanic Catalan superstar are reported to have taken place soon after an investigation was launched into his tax affairs that year. These investigations, the allegations say, prompted the Argentine to weigh options of a future outside Spain.
THEWILL recalls that this same rational was thought to be the basis of Cristiano Ronaldo’s eventual decision to move to Turin and join Juventus in 2018.
It is fascinating to think how different the future would have been had Messi actualised what the allegations imply. Had it happened in 2014, the world could have never witnessed the famous ‘MSN’ trio at Camp Nou take the world by storm the way Messi did alongside Luis Suarez and Neymar.
It would also have personally denied Messi his lasting close friendship with Suarez in particular, who arrived at Barcelona that summer from the English Premier League side Liverpool as Messi could have been heading in the opposite direction.
But what a signing it could have been for Chelsea. With the Argentine arguably at the height of his powers after scoring 133 goals for Barcelona across the previous two seasons alone, getting him to Chelsea would have been nothing short of an enormous coup. In the season that followed, he netted 58 times helping Barça to a second treble.
THEWILL can imagine him doing that in the blue of Chelsea and the trophies the Stamford Bridge side could claim as a result.
The Roman Abramovich-owned club was set to pay the €250m release clause, which, according to La Liga regulations would have cut Barcelona out of the negotiations – as happened three years later when Paris Saint-Germain successfully poached Neymar and recently when Arsenal swooped and grabbed Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid on transfer deadline day with similar tactics.
They had agreed to meet Messi’s wage demands, which would have set them back far more than the £50m net sum the player wanted.
THEWILL learnt it is claimed that Real Madrid had tried to sign Messi the year before as well. If factual, the move would have seen he and Ronaldo, arguably the best forwards of their time, play for the same side. And what a combination that could have been. However, though Real were rebuffed by the player owing to his history with the Blaugrana, Chelsea seemed to have his ear and attention.
It would seem to THEWILL that the attractive prospect of living in cosmopolitan London and the exuberant ‘charm’ of then Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, recently returned to Stamford Bridge from his exploits at Real Madrid, were the pair of major factors that made joining the Blues an appealing option for Messi.
Messi first conferred with ex-Barcelona teammate and former Porto and Chelsea star Deco, while an unnamed ‘friend’ helped with setting up a meeting with Mourinho at the London home of the Portuguese coach. Then, the process moved to chief deal-maker, Chelsea club director and “Iron Lady” Marina Granovskaia. It was at this stage that the detailed offer to make Messi a Chelsea player was prepared in July 2014.
Bizarrely, the proposed deal never materialised.
Some point to the retired Brazilian footballer Deco as the reason. He is labelled the ‘snitch’ in the story and accused of ‘seducing’ and then ‘abandoning’ the deal. The story goes that Deco heard of the ongoing contact and negotiations between Messi and Mourinho from the Spaniard Cesc Fabregas, who had just joined Chelsea from Barcelona.
Unable to get direct access to his old Barcelona boss himself, Deco spilled the details of what he had heard to Messi’s father and agent Jorge Messi, who had seemingly been kept in the dark at the time as intermediaries had been used for brokering the proposed deal so far.
Jorge is credited with blowing the plans to pieces. Messi is alleged to have denied the whole thing when his father called to confirm if what he had heard was true. Messi’s denials intrinsically implied that everything was simply off the table.
The only explanation offered over why Messi supposedly folded as he did is that such is his father’s influence over his career that he will do anything he is told. This also ultimately doubled as the player’s defence in the tax investigation brought against him as he opted to plead ignorance to all charges.
THEWILL notes how unfortunate it is for the English Premier League that the deal collapsed the way it did. And again, recent attempts by Manchester City to prise him from the grasp of the La Liga giants Barcelona suffered a similar fate. It seems to THEWILL that with each failure, it becomes more and more obvious that Messi will end his football days in the blue and deep red hues of the Blaugrana at the Camp Nou.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
