Saudi Arabian giants Al-Hilal reportedly want to make a serious offer for Lionel Messi, which would also see an audacious effort to sign some of his current and former teammates alongside him.
Messi is coming towards the end of his Paris Saint-Germain contract and it remains to be seen where he’ll be playing his football next season.
Jonathan Johnson recently told CaughtOffside that it looks likely to be over between Messi and PSG, but a possible return to Barcelona looks difficult due to Financial Fair Play.
Al-Hilal now look ready to go all out to try to convince Messi to join, by also bringing former Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba with him, as well as a potential offer for PSG midfielder Marco Verratti…
To convince Leo #Messi to join Al Hilal, the Saudi club has made an offer to Jordi #Alba and Sergio #Busquets and is going to make one to Marco #Verratti! Unheard of in football.
— Mohamed Bouhafsi (@mohamedbouhafsi) May 8, 2023
It will be interesting to see if this huge effort can convince Messi to call time on his career in Europe relatively early.
The Argentina international only recently won the World Cup with some inspired form at the tournament in Qatar last winter, but he will turn 36 this summer and no longer looks quite at his very best.
Football romantics would surely rather see Messi go back to Barca, but could he be lining up alongside big names like Busquets, Alba and Verratti in Saudi Arabia instead?