Since it’s been reported that Messi has handed In a transfer request at Barcelona, the whole world has been thrown into a frenzy and there’s hardly any football club right now that wouldn’t kill to have Messi in their ranks.
But his situation is complicated, and realistically only a small number of candidates have a chance of securing his signature.
Join us in examining Messi’s options.
The Manchester Clubs
certainly a huge amount of logic to the idea that he will join Manchester City. Firstly for Pep Guardiola, of course, but also for the key backroom staff of Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, who were also previously alongside him at Barcelona
Although less likely, Manchester United have a surprising record of making big signings. Veron, Zlatan, Falcao, Pogba, Di Maria, Van Nistelrooy, Rio Ferdinand are some mentions of sought after players that ended up in Manchester United. They could just pull this off.
The Rest Of England
Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal may also fancy the idea of launching an audacious bid, and cultural concerns that Messi’s family would struggle to adapt to life in England are lessened by the fact his children already attend a British school on the outskirts of Barcelona.
PSG
Elsewhere in Europe, beaten Champions League finalists Paris St-Germain may conclude their best chance of going one better next year would be snapping up Messi – and, like City, they have the financial resources to outbid anyone.
That idea would be appealing to Messi because it would allow him to team up again with Neymar, whose departure from Barcelona in 2017 is one of the Argentine’s many sources of discontent with his current club.
Inter Milan
Last week’s other losing European finalists, Inter Milan, could also be in the hunt. The Nerazzurri’s Chinese owners, Suning Holdings, are desperate to end Juventus’s nine-year stranglehold on Serie A, and club president Steven Zhang has reportedly already held hopeful talks with Messi’s representatives.
Juventus
Those hopes will have been seriously boosted by Tuesday’s developments, and the prospect of Messi once more facing off against Cristiano Ronaldo could easily turn true.
