Lionel Messi will forever stay as the greatest Barcelona player ever. But he was reported very close to Barca exit in 2014. Fortunately for Barca fans the deal never materialized. It was Chelsea who came close to sign Messi in 2014. The Premier League giants were ready to pay a huge fee to Barcelona. In addition, they even offered Messi a very high salary.
Leo Messi was at the peak of his career in 2014. He was already a four time Ballon D’or winner at that time. Messi was already considered as the greatest Barcelona player ever by the fans. But in 2014 Messi was tempted to leave Spain due to tax evasion.
Sky Sports covered the story of him almost joining Chelsea told by Gianluca Di Marzio. As per Di Marzio, The Blues were ready to trigger Messi’s release clause of €250 million at that time. In addition, Chelsea were ready to pay Messi a salary of €50 million per season. Di Marzio further told that Messi already had conversation with Jose Mourinho who was Chelsea manager at that time.
Roman Abramovich who was Chelsea owner at that time was really interested to sign Messi. The personal terms between the player and Chelsea were said to have been agreed. However, Di Marzio stated that Messi’s father did not like the idea and instead told Leo to stay at Barca. Chelsea then went on to sign Cesc Fabregas from Barca in the summer.
Fabrizio Romano talks about how close Chelsea was to sign Messi
Fabrizio Romano also covered this story when talking about the biggest failed transfers. He said that it was not very close but Chelsea did tried to sign Leo. He added that The Blues were trying hard to convince Messi. Romano told that Chelsea contacted Messi’s lawyers and the people close to him. But, Messi opted to stay at Barca because it was special for him. He decided to stay at Spain along with his family. Messi left Barcelona in 2021 after playing 765 matches for them.
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