I am staring at the pages of Marca with incredulity. On page 10 where normally all Barca news is tucked away, is a story that if true suggests that we may not get what we want but it is not due to lack of effort (or cash) on the part of our owners.
Double page spread "Messi rejects huge offer from City".
And huge means huge.
285 million euros. 150 of that is his buyout clause. The rest I suppose is agents, signing on fee and curiously 10 million to the family.
Obviously Messi is going to stay with Barca, for all the reasons you and I would probably stay. He's an idol. He has a chance of going down in history as their greatest ever player etc etc
What however does this, if true, say about our owners?
Being uncharitable you could say they have not learned their lesson from the Kaka affair. You could certainly accuse them of naivety. Is Messi a realistic target?
On the other hand you could not fault them for ambition. It also suggests that they are willing to spend far more than even Abramovich at Chelsea.
Which is good news for us.
Personally I would like to spend that money on 4 or 5 players. Especially as I'm not entirely convinced Messi is robust enough for our league. Although Robinho is perhaps even slighter in build.
Whatever, it does seem that we can look forward to some heavy hitting in this summer's transfer window.
