The day Messi was able to sign for Real Madrid

Leo Messi He was very close to being a Real Madrid player. This explains it Guillem Balagué in the French newspaper Le Parisien. It was in the autumn of 2001 when Barça had an agreement with Leo Messi and his family for him to join the club at a rate of 100 million pesetas per season.

Guillem Balagué explains that at that moment he arrived Javier Perez Farguell to the sports management of Barcelona and that he was surprised to see Messi’s contract. He considered it excessive and they presented a lesser proposal. “Who does he think he is? Maradona? Let’s stop this and let him return to Argentina,” said a leader, assures Balagué.

Valdano I was up to date with everything that was going on Messi and Real Madrid was willing to pay more. However, Valdano did not want to make a formal proposal so as not to go to war with Barcelona. He even heard “I think we’ll go to Madrid” in the room where the Messi met with their lawyers.

In the end, Messi stayed at Barcelona until last summer when he left for PSG to face Real Madrid tomorrow in the Champions League.

This is how Barça thanked Leo for his time at the club: a retrospective of his life at Barça

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