Lionel Messi to China? No chance but Beijing 2008 backdown might hold the key to him staying
- New boss Pep Guardiola let Argentine stay to chase Olympic gold after Barcelona board won in court
- Talk of a move to the Chinese Super League is way off as times have changed even since Gareth Bale almost signed last summer
As expected, this has sent the world into overdrive. Where will Messi go next? Who can afford him?
No surprise, the state-backed petro-giants PSG and Manchester City have been mentioned, as have Manchester United, mainly because no transfer rumour mill is complete without them.
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Lionel Messi asks to leave Barcelona football club
Just as it is accepted that all parties were agreed until Bernabeu bosses asked for a fee for the player at the last minute, with the CSL side unwilling to agree to the new terms.
The players who have moved to the CSL since have not been of the same calibre as Bale, let alone record six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi.
A lack of big names reflects the fact that the big spending days are over, thanks to the salary cap introduced this season.
While Messi will not go to China, or at least the current climate in Chinese football makes it as likely as Ronaldo joining him to chase CSL scoring records, the country might hold the key to his future.
We have been here before when it comes to Messi wanting to leave, the board saying no, and a legal battle ensuing.
At that time, the 21-year-old Argentine only wanted to leave for the month of August to represent his country at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The Barcelona board, already well aware of the talent in their midst and its importance to the club’s future success, said no. There was a tense stand-off.
This was the first summer of Pep Guardiola as head coach, the former club captain who came through the famed La Masia academy, promoted from Barcelona B to get the club back to where they wanted to be.
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The club had ended the previous season trophyless under Frank Rijkaard. They finished third in La Liga and lost in the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League and the Copa del Rey, going out on both counts to the eventual winners – Manchester United and Valencia.
There are similarities with this past season under the unloved Quique Setien, who replaced Ernesto Valverde in January.
Barcelona lost their La Liga title to Real Madrid before going out to eventual winners Bayern Munich in the Uefa Champions League – thrashed 8-2 no less – and Athletic Bilbao who are in the postponed Copa del Rey final.
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Even more unthinkable now, 15 years and 33 trophies into the Messi era, they had also finished 2006-07 without a trophy, too.
But back to Beijing, where the stand-off was such it ended in a legal battle between the player and club, which the club won.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport backed Barcelona over Fifa in an August 6 ruling. Meeting in Beijing a day before Argentina were to play Ivory Coast on the football tournament’s opening day, CAS upheld the Spanish side’s appeal after the world governing body had said clubs must release eligible players.
Messi had arrived in Shanghai on August 1 and was left in limbo until a phone call to Guardiola, who let him stay in China to chase gold rather than return to play a Champions League qualifier against Wisla Krakow.
After winning gold, the 12th anniversary of which passed last Sunday, Messi thanked Guardiola.
“I'm very grateful to Pep Guardiola,” Messi said of the coach who flew in the face of CAS and the Barcelona board.
“I want to reach to him and give him a hug because he understood where I was coming from and it was such a nice gesture.
“He conducted himself brilliantly. He was once a player and he knows how it is. Now I can talk about being an Olympic champion to an Olympic champion.”
Messi would pay Guardiola back many times over, while Barcelona’s board would keep their star happy over the years. The boss and boardroom sanctioned the sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic after just a season when Messi felt sidelined.
That all changed this season, with Messi upset by the appointment of Setien and criticism of the players by former teammate turned sporting director Eric Abidal under president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s unloved board.
The club captain and record scorer leaving has gone from unthinkable to possible. It is the biggest challenge the board has ever faced.
Messi reportedly told new head coach Ronald Koeman that he was “more out than in”, but it is Bartomeu and his board who need to be out.
Once more the answer might not be with the lawyers and courts but in keeping Messi happy, whatever that takes.
