Totally agree.
If it comes to this it would be the greatest free for all in football history. You would have every possible football club worldwide searching the back of the sofas trying to get a piece of the action.
It would be similar to going from a one to one negotiation to a public tender/highest bidder situation.
In my opinion acquiring managers & players are two separate animals. For us to think Messi will only go to us if on a free next year simply because of Pep is very naive, especially in this football day & age.
I reckon the money needed to acquire Messi's services via a free may end up costing more in total than his original release/buy out clause.
Money talks & if we had any chance of acquiring Messi, I would rather it be done now than possibly waiting it out & allowing for the rats to get a sniff.