5 times Lionel Messi came close to leaving Barcelona in the past
Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has been a one-club man up until this stage of his career. The Argentine joined Barca as a 13-year-old kid, broke through the youth system to become a constant in the senior team, and moved ahead to establish himself as the greatest player in the history of the club.
Since making his first official appearance in the Blaugrana jersey against Espanyol on October 16, 2004, Lionel Messi has moved forward to represent the Catalan giants in 778 games, recording 672 goals and 305 assists to his name. This is the highest tally of goals and assists anyone has bagged for a single club in history.
However, Messi's status as a one-club man could change this summer. Barcelona have released an official statement saying they won't be tying the attacker to a new deal amid their financial constraints and the wage cap policy enforced by La Liga. While reports have started linking the attacker with a move away from the Camp Nou, several reliable sources believe he could stay put.
This isn't the first time Lionel Messi will be linked with a departure from Barcelona. There have been a couple of times a similar situation has popped up in the past. Below, we highlight five of them.
#5 Arsenal (2003)
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed that the Gunners were really close to prising Lionel Messi away from Barcelona in 2003. According to the Frenchman, the Londoners were in negotiations with Barcelona for the signature of Cesc Fabregas when the opportunity to sign Messi came up.
The Argentine was one of the most promising talents in the Blaugrana's youth system during that period, alongside Fabregas and Gerard Pique. Arsenal signed Fabregas and Pique moved to Manchester United, but Lionel Messi remained at Camp Nou.
#4 Inter Milan and Juventus (2005)
When Lionel Messi started taking the football world by storm in the early phase of his professional career, he attracted interest from Juventus and Inter Milan. While Juve made an official bid to sign the attacker, Inter took a step further by offering to pay his release clause worth a massive €150 million.
Joan Laporta, who was Barcelona's president at the time, later revealed:
“They [Inter] were prepared to pay the €150 million buyout clause, which is why we [later] raised it to €250million, but I always felt reassured by my relationship with his dad, Jorge."
“I told him, ‘They’ll have to pay the clause because I won’t sell. He’ll be happy here, he’ll get glory. There, he’ll only win financially. Your son’s destined to be the greatest in history and here he’ll have a team to help get there. He’ll enjoy it.'”