Messi to Real?
Spanish newspaper Marca is reporting that Lionel Messi may join Real Madrid following the club’s elections for a new president later this summer. The report says that two presidential candidates are ready to pay Messi’s €150 million buy-out clause to capture the most exciting talent in world football for Los Merengues. Apparently Messi’s family are unhappy with Frank Rijkaard’s decision not to play Messi in the Champions’ League final and are ready to negotiate with Barça’s arch enemies.
There is a history of presidential candidates of both clubs promising to buy superstar players as part of their election manifesto. The most audacious move to date was Florentino Perez’s promise to take Luis Figo to Real Madrid which he delivered in a €37 million deal in 2001. Figo was greeted by shouts of “pesotero” (mercenary) and select items such as pigs’ heads and whisky bottles from Barça
fans upon his return to the Camp Nou.
More recently Barcelona’s Joan Laporta promised to deliver David Beckham if elected. The promise spectacularly backfired when Beckham joined Real, but ironically Laporta must be grateful to this day as instead he brought in the more talented Ronaldinho who has been the catalyst for Barcelona’s success.
At footballspectator we believe the move is unlikely. Messi is still recovering from injury and likely to miss Argentina’s first match in the World Cup so could not have played in the Champions’ League final anyway. Secondly, Marca is notoriously rife with outrageous speculation. For example, on the day that Thierry Henry signed his extension with Arsenal, Marca’s headline read that Arsene Wenger would become Real’s new manager and would convince Henry to follow him to Madrid. Finally, as the unofficial “voice” of Real Madrid, Marca enjoys winding up Los Cules.
