Spanish radio station Cadena COPE have revealed three occasions when Real Madrid attempted to orchestrate one of the boldest ever transfers and prise Lionel Messi from Barcelona.
According to El Partido de las Doce, hosted on Cadena COPE,
Messi spurned Real Madrid’s advances on all three occasions, ranging
from 2011 to 2015.
“Thanks, but my club is FC Barcelona,” Messi is reported to have told Florentino Perez, who was angling for another huge coup on the scale of Luis Figo.
Perez famously won the Madrid presidency by promising to sign
Figo from Barcelona in 2000 and, to astonishment in Catalunya, actually
managed to pull off one of the most bitter transfers in football
history.
Figo, who would have suffered a huge financial penalty if he did
not sign for Perez, based on a pre-contract agreement arranged by his
agent, cost Real Madrid £37.4m, but the symbolic value was even greater.
Here are the three times Real Madrid tried to sign Messi, according to Cadena COPE:
2011 – The opening gambit
In the summer of 2011, with Cristiano Ronaldo being tempted by the huge money on offer at Manchester City,
a person close to the president, but with no official role at Real
Madrid, scheduled a meeting with Messi outside of Spain. He was told
that Messi had no intention of jumping ship.
2013 – Doubts over Ronaldo
In June 2013, Neymar
had just signed for Barcelona in a snub to Madrid and Ronaldo was still
refusing to sign a new contract (which he eventually did in September
of that year). Perez was concerned and dispatched a top executive to try
and tempt Messi from Camp Nou. Again, Madrid failed.
2015 – Third time lucky?
Fresh from Barcelona’s magnificent treble, Perez again tried to
sign a player who by now was arguably the greatest to ever play the
game. Again, a top executive went to see Messi. Again, Madrid were
turned down.
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