Lionel Messi to Inter Milan is a dream of club’s Chinese owners that dates back to 2016
- Steven Zhang, now chairman of the Serie A runners-up, told club officials to ‘get Messi’ soon after Suning took control of the club
- A year on from a failed attempt to take Gareth Bale to Chinese Super League rumours grow of move to poach Barcelona star
Inter Milan’s supposed courtship of Barcelona star Lionel Messi is the most talked about prospective football transfer of the summer, with rumours and reports adding further twists to the tale on a daily basis.
The desire to bring the Argentina international to Milan has been in place since 2016 when Chinese retail giants Suning took over the club, according to Italian media reports.
Steven Zhang is understood to have told club officials to “get Messi” at a meeting in New York soon after taking control of the club from Indonesian Erick Thohir. Zhang, son of Suning owner Zhang Jindong, became club chairman in 2018.
Rumours that Messi, who has gone public with his upset at the Barcelona board as they face a trophyless season, will leave the Catalan giants after 15 years in the first team have been fuelled by Spanish reports that he can leave the club this summer for less than his €700 million release clause as per his contract.
The noise has increased with the news last weekend that his father, who handles his business affairs, has bought property in Milan and the 33-year-old has since followed suit.
This came after PPTV, the Suning owned sports streaming service, used a Messi silhouette projected on Milan’s famous Duomo cathedral to promote Inter against Napoli to Chinese fans last month. The move was reported to have angered the Barcelona boardroom.
