Messi's next club: place your bets!

Who will Messi join?


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    1,639

izec

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City would be the most logical one. Everything is there for him to slot in. The others are too risky and/or are too unstable.
 

Tiber

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Soviet Oil Money v Arab Oil Money v Chinese Billionaires.

Who says that the romance is gone?
 

Banana Republic

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The sheiks will be salivating at the prospect of adding Messi to their collection.
Expect City to get a new £300m sponsorship deal from the Abu Dhabi Snowmobile corporation, to fund the deal.
 

FrankDrebin

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If he does leave it'll be City.

They just have the best foundation for him with Pep,Soriano,Begiristain in the management capacity. Numerous Argentinian and Spanish players within the squad who'll make Messi and his family settle into England/Manchester more comfortably.

Playing wise City also have that perfect mix of experience in winning and the ability to adapt to certain playing styles whilst fundamentally still being a attractive attacking team.

Oh,and he'll get a sh*tload of money.
 

iammemphis

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Changed my vote. The more i think about it the more i think City have been planning this all along and all it needed was the nod from Messi.
 

BBRBB

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Am I the only one to want to see Messi join Ronaldo at Juve?

The two era-defining megastars and archrivals joining together in their last years for a last shot at continental domination is better stuff than a Hollywood movie script.
 

Luke1995

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Interesting question: If Borussia Dortmund sell Jadon Sancho for the price they're asking for, would they have the money to afford Messi's wages ?
 

FrankDrebin

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Interesting question: If Borussia Dortmund sell Jadon Sancho for the price they're asking for, would they have the money to afford Messi's wages ?
No and even if they could they're just not that sort of club.
 

Gibb11

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Barca resign to losing him to either Man city, PSG or Inter

Pep, tixi bergstein and Aguero a big factor for him plus playing in the premier League. There favorites to me however the language barrier and the culture maybe a problem. Other pieces fit though. Very strong Champions League team.

Inter is interesting, Barca have chased Martinez for a while and he wants to go there perhaps a exchange could take place in a wierd way. Also for wages now Italy is great for Tax breaks. The culture may suit Messi more. Problem with this fit is the team itself, Conte will need to adapt and im unsure how this will be plus not much pace upfront and style of play is not Messi's style ideally so yeahI

PSG well french league is a few tiers lower and I just would think Messi would be put off from Neymars experience.

City is the best fit unfortunately
 

bosnian_red

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I think he'll end up staying, but if he does actually leave, the only club I see him going to unfortunately is City... Silver lining is it'll stop Liverpool from winning the title as long as he's there. As much as we can dream, Messi is (apparently) leaving Barca because they're a mess of a club who are managed really poorly and have lost their way as a club. He's not going to join United, who have become a bit of a joke as a big club on the global level with the year after year disappointments, a board who doesn't invest seriously and properly to actually get back to the top, and is more a business than a football club. City have Pep which is huge for them, and as much as we hate them, as flawed as their actual owners and the money is, they pretty much invested everything into just being a successful football club. So Messi would see it as going to the best coach he's ever had at a club that is one of the top few teams in the world and the favourites for every trophy the few years he has left as the best player around, along with City being one of 2 clubs in the world with pretty much unlimited money (them and PSG), with the actual willingness to spend it.
 

Suedesi

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This is all pure speculation, but this is how I see it from afar:
  • His primary motivation is not financial, otherwise he stays at Barca and collects his paycheck in comfortable surroundings. That's the easy solution, but by the time he hangs his boots his net worth is probably a Billion USD +, so a few tens of millions a year are hardly going to make a difference.
  • His primary motivation is his legacy. He's tired of playing for a non-competitive team that's choked year in year out in the CL. 3-0 to Juve... 3-0 to Roma, 4-0 to Liverpool, 8-2 to Bayern, his professional ego has taken a bruising every year in the CL for the last 4 years. He wants to absolutely cement his legacy as the GOAT on a global scale (sorry Ronaldo fans) and to do that he's got to go to the Premier League. Forget the farmer's league or Serie A, or with all due respect, the Bundesliga - they don't have the reach and global appeal of the PL, and it's not even close.
  • In the PL the choice is a team that wins. It's Liverpool or City. United and Chelsea are miles behind.
  • It's got to be a team that can win in Europe (Liverpool > City)
  • It's got to be a team that will do all the running and pressing for him so he can deliver the final ball or do his magic in the zone (slight edge to Klopp, his team seem to work harder)
The rest will hinge on his relationship with Pep (are they BFFS or lukewarm), and whether the owners will commit to the financial package required.

Either way, it's worrying times for United fans. :nervous: :nervous: :nervous:
 

RedRonaldo

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People are strange. We are talking about the best and greatest player ever - and I have forever been a Ronaldo-fan. Do you really think he’ll tarnish his reputation by playing for a smaller, rather insignificant club like Internazionale? Feed balls to Lukaku? Playing for a nutcase like Conte? It will be PSG because Paris is a magnificent city like Barcelona and they can pay him. Or City, because of Pep Guardiola and their team, linking up with de Bruyne. Again, they can pay him a lot. United? Yeah, I’m pretty sure Messi don’t want to play for Solskjær and a team that finished 30+ points behind in the league last season. Or he’ll stay at Barcelona, but this is his last chance, hiring Koeman was a dreadful decision for team morale.

Better yet, he should just retire and never let people have the chance to criticize his decline. These guys love to play though, life after football can be disasterous.
Retired? He is still among the very best in the world, and he earns around 60-70m from salary every year, and over 100m if include endorsement. Why would he wants to retire?
 

bondsname

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He has been linked with Inter, no? But it just doesn't make sense to me.

Other realistic options would be PSG or Manchester City. No way in hell ge comes to United, I'm guessing Messi wants to win trophies in his final years and United is a couple of years from competing at that level again.

I voted PSG though. They have the cash and potential to become serial winners, especially with Messi in the team.
 

Gazza

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This is all pure speculation, but this is how I see it from afar:
  • His primary motivation is not financial, otherwise he stays at Barca and collects his paycheck in comfortable surroundings. That's the easy solution, but by the time he hangs his boots his net worth is probably a Billion USD +, so a few tens of millions a year are hardly going to make a difference.
  • His primary motivation is his legacy. He's tired of playing for a non-competitive team that's choked year in year out in the CL. 3-0 to Juve... 3-0 to Roma, 4-0 to Liverpool, 8-2 to Bayern, his professional ego has taken a bruising every year in the CL for the last 4 years. He wants to absolutely cement his legacy as the GOAT on a global scale (sorry Ronaldo fans) and to do that he's got to go to the Premier League. Forget the farmer's league or Serie A, or with all due respect, the Bundesliga - they don't have the reach and global appeal of the PL, and it's not even close.
  • In the PL the choice is a team that wins. It's Liverpool or City. United and Chelsea are miles behind.
  • It's got to be a team that can win in Europe (Liverpool > City)
  • It's got to be a team that will do all the running and pressing for him so he can deliver the final ball or do his magic in the zone (slight edge to Klopp, his team seem to work harder)
The rest will hinge on his relationship with Pep (are they BFFS or lukewarm), and whether the owners will commit to the financial package required.

Either way, it's worrying times for United fans. :nervous: :nervous: :nervous:
I mean, yes and no. It would suck if he joined either team, but with him or without him those two clubs are way out in front. Messi would greatly improve the global rep of either side but United aren't going to be challenging either of them for the title this year or next anyway imo.
 

Harry190

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I thought it was a play, then I realized he would officially be a free agent right this very moment if it were June. You don't send an official request like such willy-nilly. It's more than a power play at this point.

And Barcelona should accept his request. They stand to win the most from it.
 
Last edited:

SecondFig

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I thought it was a play, then I realized he would officially be a free agent right this very moment if this were June. You don't send an official request like such willy-nilly. It's more than a power play at this point.

And Barcelona should accept his request. They stand to win the most from it.
Exactly - if they really want to build a new team then they needed to move Messi on anyway. If they can get rid of Messi and Suarez from the wage-bill and dressing room they'll be able to genuinely start rebuilding.
 

Suedesi

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I mean, yes and no. It would suck if he joined either team, but with him or without him those two clubs are way out in front. Messi would greatly improve the global rep of either side but United aren't going to be challenging either of them for the title this year or next anyway imo.
That goes without saying - United aren't challenging in the league. What hurts is if Liverpool end up collecting more Big Ear cups or City finally getting one because of Leo.
 

VBI

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I'd prefer Man Utd honestly, since I like the club as proper club, even if we get dogs abuse from you on here at times haha, but any excuse to come back down to Manchester would be alright as a neutral. Juve so he could team up with Ronaldo for a season would be hilarious, the hordes of casuals on twitter arguing about the two wouldn't know what to do and would hopefully shut up forever.

It's more likely to be Man C though.
 

Dargonk

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I can seem him still staying at Barca, but if he does move, I'm assuming it would be to City and rejoining Pep.
 

DoneDaDa

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“Messi has chosen Manchester City as the club he wants to play for next, per @marcelobechler”

Bechler is the first to break Neymar to PSG and was the first one to say Messi was leaving, looks like if this does go we now know where.
 

Himannv

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The sheiks will be salivating at the prospect of adding Messi to their collection.
Expect City to get a new £300m sponsorship deal from the Abu Dhabi Snowmobile corporation, to fund the deal.
Exactly. I reckon it will be a combination of sponsorship deals, spread out between the Snowmobile corporation, Igloo constructors, and Ski operators.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

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I think it will be City, and that while he'll add to them on the field, it's going to be disruptive to the team.
 

Gazza

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33 year old Messi leaves his home of 20 years to live in Manchester, I still don’t see that part of it even with all signs pointing to yes.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

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They'll get to play alongside an all time great while winning some silverware in the process, I think it'll be anything but disruptive sadly, elevating if anything.
That is part of it, but there's a lot more going on. Messi ran the show at Barcalona, a much bigger club than city and was consulted on everything. How does it work for him at city, what kind of influence should he have? Also affects the pay structure at the club, etc.

A signing like that affects the club culture. I just think that, if it happens, it will have repercussions off the field and even beyond the time hell play for them.
 

RedRonaldo

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After we sold Sanchez, we free up around 350k weekly salary. If we also sell Mata and De Gea, we can save up another 525k:

Sanchez 350k
De Gea 375k
Mata 150k

total 875k

We add another 125k, then we can afford Messi 1m weekly salary. Easy. Let’s get it done!
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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After we sold Sanchez, we free up around 350k weekly salary. If we also sell Mata and De Gea, we can save up another 525k:

Sanchez 350k
De Gea 375k
Mata 150k

total 875k

We add another 125k, then we can afford Messi 1m weekly salary. Easy. Let’s get it done!
Messi's on 1.3m weekly.