‘Messi came close to joining Inter’, former Barcelona president reveals

16 giu 2017

Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta has released an interview with The Guardian talking about several issues regarding the future of the La Liga giants. The Spanish businessman, however, has also made some surprising statements regarding Lionel Messi, claiming that the Argentinean come close to joining Inter in 2006.

"It was 2006 when Inter made an offer. They were prepared to pay the €150m buy-out clause, which is why we raised it to €250m, but I always felt reassured by my relationship with his dad, Jorge.I told him: ‘They’ll have to pay the clause because I won’t sell. He’ll be happy here, he’ll get glory. There, he’ll only win financially. Your son’s destined to be the greatest in history and here he’ll have a team to help get there. He’ll enjoy it.’”

Messi is now negotiating a contract extension with Barcelona. The Argentinean star could earn somewhere around € 40 million but a final agreement as not been reached yet with Messi’s current deal expiring in just 12 months.