Lionel Messi will soon be on the market but no Premier League club should touch him with a money-soaked bargepole. Todd Boehly really must resist his urges.
It has been widely reported that after two mutually unsatisfactory years with Paris Saint-Germain, Messi will leave upon the expiration of his contract this summer.
Messi was suspended by the French club over an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia, with reports coincidentally emerging that Pro League club Al Hilal have offered the world champion more than £350m a year to join them.
Messi’s father Jorge has denied rumours of a deal with the Saudi club, stating that “the decision will not be taken before Lionel finishes the league with PSG” and that “we can assure people that there is nothing with nobody. Not verbal, signed, agreed, and there won’t be until the season finishes.”
But speculation is rife that the 35-year-old could join Inter Miami in MLS, while Pep Guardiola reckons his former player “will do the impossible” to re-join Barcelona, who are rumoured to be interested.
The Premier League is always an option, yet here is one reason why each club should steer clear this summer.
Arsenal
The last thing those bottlers need is someone who was knocked out of the Champions League by Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi, and who couldn’t ride Rodrigo Palacio’s rat-tail to World Cup glory.
Aston Villa
Poor Mathieu Alemany has only just left one club because of their questionable pursuit of Messi. Give the guy a break.
Bournemouth
They tried ‘the new Messi’ in 2016 but Juan Iturbe’s four substitute appearances and 55 Premier League minutes in that loan spell probably put Bournemouth off the real thing.
Brentford
It would make Brentford and Messi’s collusion far too obvious. The Bees, after all, are the reason he finally won the World Cup in 2022: rescuing Neal Maupay from the depths of the French league pyramid in 2017 set in motion a series of events which led to the striker joining Brighton in 2019, injuring Bernd Leno’s knee and forcing Arsenal to pick Emiliano Martinez in 2020, persuading Aston Villa to sign Martinez in 2021 and getting Argentina to call him up and eventually make him their No. 1 goalkeeper later that same year in preparation for his daft heroics in Qatar. That was the deal and silly Brentford agreed to it.
Brighton
You can’t sign Messi and James Milner in the same summer without some sort of apology first. And given the choice, Brighton…
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