Who generally gives a shit how much it costs? The club wouldn’t be interested if they couldn’t afford it.
Also, are you really suggesting that signing Messi would not make any footballing sense?
Even coming of the back of a poor season with one of the worst Barca sides of the past decade, he managed 33 goals and 26 assists in 45 games.
By contrast, De Bruyne got 16 goals and 22 assists in 48 games. Sterling got 31 goals and 5 assists in 52 games. Both of which have been excellent for us.
I understand that Messi is not as good as he was 4/5 years ago but he is still head and shoulders above any player in the PL. He would instantly transform the mentality and efficiency of this side.