Adidas wanted Barca ace in London.
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Reports from Spain have emerged suggesting that Barcelona ace Lionel Messi could have been playing for Chelsea this season had sports mega brand Adidas had their way, the Metro reports.
The Argentine ace currently has a £210m buy out clause installed in his contract at the Nou Camp and Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo have claimed that Adidas were willing to pay half of that in order to get him to Stamford Bridge.
It was a move designed to steal one of the biggest stars on the books of rivals Nike and the general idea was to get Messi playing in one of the kits made for either Chelsea, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
However, their ploy was made aware to both Barcelona chiefs and Messi’s representatives, who were able to block any move that may have come in for him.
Messi had stated that he didn’t plan on going anywhere, and given his tricky relationship with Jose Mourinho in the past, the move wouldn’t have been a foregone conclusion even if Roman Abramovic had wanted to shell out the remaining £105m.
The news won’t be of much comfort to Chelsea fans, who are currently struggling to get one of their strikers to find the back of the net on a consistent basis.