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impeh
Hi, its me..
Lionel Messi could have signed for Chelsea in the summer after adidas offered to pay half of his £210million buy-out clause, according to Barcelona sports paper Mundo Deportivo.
Messi, who joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old after the club paid for expensive hormone therapy treatment without which he would never have made the grade as a professional, has always had a strong emotional bond with the club.
But according to Mundo Deportivo, adidas saw the opportunity to prise him away from Barca – and effectively from Nike who sponsor the Catalan giants – and move him to one of their three main European clubs: Chelsea, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
The pro-Barcelona daily says that Messi’s representatives were made aware of adidas’ proposal and that they then informed the club, who were also told Messi had no intention of leaving the club.
Even if adidas had stumped up the £105m, Chelsea would still have had to find the other £105m and manager Jose Mourinho would have had to convince a player with whom he has never had a very good relationship that the two could work together.
Messi, who joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old after the club paid for expensive hormone therapy treatment without which he would never have made the grade as a professional, has always had a strong emotional bond with the club.
But according to Mundo Deportivo, adidas saw the opportunity to prise him away from Barca – and effectively from Nike who sponsor the Catalan giants – and move him to one of their three main European clubs: Chelsea, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
The pro-Barcelona daily says that Messi’s representatives were made aware of adidas’ proposal and that they then informed the club, who were also told Messi had no intention of leaving the club.
Even if adidas had stumped up the £105m, Chelsea would still have had to find the other £105m and manager Jose Mourinho would have had to convince a player with whom he has never had a very good relationship that the two could work together.
Darko
New member
What?
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Oh dear.......
Not supporting Pep or anything, but do you seriously believe everything MD writes? I mean, I dont think any of these clubs bid for him. Why would Adidas encourage them to bid for Messi without taking Leo into confidence first?
Doesn't really make any sense IMO.
FCBarca
Mike the Knife
I find it hard to believe in principle but when you realize corporations are sort of ruling the world atm, would make sense for adidas wanting their marquee revenue generator to flourish in his era at an adidas club like the Michael Jordan of Nike...You wonder if adidas reps are not in his ear on a daily basis, for years, telling him how much more he could earn elsewhere...Or if Jorge and Leo's entourage have already set boundaries with his adidas relationship to not apply pressure in that area, that can equally be plausible
Everything about Messi thus far has reflected family and he feels at home here...so long as that is preserved, I can't see any offer tempting the player
Everything about Messi thus far has reflected family and he feels at home here...so long as that is preserved, I can't see any offer tempting the player
JamDav1982
Senior Member
Nike would just give Barca 50m and tell them to pass it on to Messi to keep him where he is.
Maybe alternative is not the right word as there is no player out there that can truly be Messi's alternative. More like another real goal scoring option up front. Based solely on last season when Messi doesn't play we look too impotent especially against the stronger opposition in Europe in away legs . Barca as a Champions League contenders shouldn't be too dependent on one man to score to win us matches. This season Tata is at least trying different things, rotating players, trying different formations etc. Barca doesn't have a CF, a person who receives the ball and with few touches try to find the back of the net. This would be an alternative to Barca trying to tiki taka the ball in the net most of the time. At least Tata is telling the players to be more direct. I'm only saying that Lewandowski with his height and "quality" @ 8.5m is not a bad deal and would bring variation to our now predictable style.
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