One day Manchester City agreed to personal terms with Lionel Messi the next, he is staying for another season.
We were extremely close to seeing Messi move on from the Camp Nou but the power of a happy family and familiar promises appeared to do the trick, and have the world’s best player stay put.
Only one person is smiling at the moment and that man is Barca president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, who should be stepping down from his role at the club. He is the only man in the world able to make the best player at the club want to leave it.
In all honesty, I believed for the duration of this saga that this transfer was finally going to happen this time and it wasn’t just a whole lot of smoke being blown by the player and club.
With tears in my eyes, it appears the joke is on me and the rest who thought we were getting ready for Messi to rip the Premier League apart with his old boss Pep Guardiola showing him the English way.
Barcelona fans are not overly festive about the news as it stands, for now, king Messi is only staying for another one more season, and then he is done with the Catalan club.
It has been on the cards long before now and now was just the tipping point. The arrangement (or gentlemen’s agreement) that was said to be in place after signing a new deal back in 2017, seems to only exist in the players’ contract.
Why Messi should have moved over
More from Manchester United
- Arsenal transfer news: Mikel Arteta rivals Manchester United for wonderkid
- Manchester United: Erik ten Hag pinpoints 4 players amid Brighton loss
- Manchester United predicted lineup vs Bayern Munich – UEFA Champions League 2023/24
- 3 reasons why other clubs are ‘annoyed’ by Erik ten Hag and Manchester United
- Manchester United: Erik ten Hag’s constant “crybaby” excuses don’t add up
Why the Argentine should have made the switch from La Liga to the Premier League is because of a number of reasons and stats.
But to name the most important reason, it has to be the “will Messi be able to withstand the Premier League and its physical demand” discussion.
This is a timeless debate and something his biggest rival in history, Cristiano Ronaldo, will always have over him.
Having moved from and excelled in Portugal to England, from Manchester to Madrid, and from Spain to the Old Lady, where he will stay till his final day of football.
Christi has gone and conquered all of the European leagues he has played in, not just moving over and becoming a passenger to the game. No, not at all! He was the driver and the game-changer while doing it.
Messi will hold the gold for loyalty player with an additional badge that says “One-man club”. Yes, at the moulding age of 33-years-old, it would have been a big ask to come and perform in the English Premier League as he does in the Spanish La Liga.
Leo #Messi begins preseason training. pic.twitter.com/ygPNpWzjkb
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 7, 2020
Yet, we are talking about the world’s most gifted player and in saying this, you have to be disappointed again thinking why didn’t he make the move. The other reason just as important, I wanted Messi in my FPL team, enough said!
With the pandemic happening and Liverpool winning the Premier League after a 30-year wait, Lionel Messi moving to Manchester City would have been so fitting.
The 2020 summer transfer window would have been one for the ages and a date that would have been embedded in the history books, but it was just not meant to be for EPL lovers.