Could anyone feasibly pay the reported gargantuan cost of Lionel Messi?
Chelsea’s pursuit of frustrated FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi could cost the club a reported £500m if they were able to pull it off.
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By looking at the revenues of the top nine clubs in Europe (Barcelona should make it 10 but can’t sign their own player, obviously) we assess which of the continent’s biggest sides could feasibly sign the legendary Argentine.
With such silly money being reported just who could even consider signing the Argentine and afford to pay a supposed £200 million transfer fee and £300m wage packet.
AC Milan – Revenue: £225.8 million
Whilst it would be unlikely Messi would actually move to Milan, the Serie A giants would only theoretically only be able to pay Messi’s fee based on their club revenues.
Juventus – Revenue: £233.5m
Juve similarly might bankrupt themselves if any attempt to sign the Argentine was made as they continue to finance their recent stadium move.
Arsenal – Revenue: £243.6m
Arsenal are a peculiar case as whilst their revenue wouldn’t suggest they could capture Messi, the club are continually coy on the full state of their finances.
But could you ever actually envisage Arsene Wenger sanctioning a deal using that kind of money?
Chelsea – Revenue: £260m
Chelsea clearly have the financial muscle to sanction a deal for Messi as they’ve got one of the richest men in the world bank rolling the club.
Whether they would purchase Messi considering the ever restricting Financial Fair Play regulations is another matter.
Manchester City – Revenue: £271m
City too clearly have the ability to sanction a deal for Messi, but after already falling foul of FFP in the past know what a negative effect it can have.
But considering the way the Citizens are handling the Frank Lampard situation, you’d expect they might just buy him with New York City FC and loan him indefinitely to Man City.
Paris Saint-Germain – Revenue: £341.8m
PSG may be backed by the Qatari royal family but even they might fail in their attempts to snare Messi though whether he would accept a move to Ligue 1 is another question entirely.
The three time Balon d’Or winner hardly struck up a great relationship with Zlatan Ibrahimovic the last time the two were in a team together.
Manchester United – Revenue: £363.2m
United are the best place English side at least to plot a move for Messi but would most likely have to stagger the payments for him to ensure they had finances to spare for other potential deals.
After signing Angel di Maria, potentially Radamel Falcao and a host of targets perhaps Messi would be the jewel in the crown of the ‘Old Trafford Galacticos’.
Bayern Munich – Revenue: £369.6m
Bayern’s almost bursting stock of players surely couldn’t handle another world class star given they have them in reams, but a reunion with Pep Guardiola and the winning medals it may bring could interest the Argentine.
Real Madrid – Revenue: £444.7m
Whether Messi would actually consider the ultimate betrayal – a la Luis Figo – after spending the majority of his life with the Catalonian club is questionable but Real are probably the only club on the list who could theoretically sign Messi and come out relatively unscathed financially.
The biggest issue would probably be whether the Argentine and Ronaldo could actually play together after years of rivalling each others achievements.