Surely Messi renewing would be enough for them
Or is he?
Yeah, I reckon. It just has to wait for the Copa to finish. Sign him now, he gets a career threatening injury... oops!
They're poorer but there's people who will invest. COVID's a stunning blow but they are still the number one club in the world in an industry that has blown up phenomenally. He's the number one name. He's worth so much to them in what we unfortunately call the 'mindspace', he really is. More than he would be to us. Investors know that.
They usually do well in offloading unwanted players, and can raise some money by selling one of the younger players to revitalise the squad, which is pretty ropey now.
City's goal here is unclear to me, but we get linked with Barca all the time in the media, which is a plus. So much coverage lol. 10 years of links with Messi, all those column inches and views. How much would that sort of marketing coverage cost us? And even the greatest ad campaign wouldn't hook people like that story.
They're still super important on the political side of football too. We've got enemies in PSG and so on. We do need friends, too.
And if there is a possibility we can get a Fati, Pedri, FDJ..... we've got to be interested, right?