United can’t afford to get involved in this very Messi business
When news began to break that Lionel Messi had told Barcelona he wanted to leave the Nou Camp, United officials knew what was coming next.
Reds staff were wrapped up in a much more serious drama of their own late on Tuesday, following Harry Maguire’s trial in Greece, but sure as night follows day when one of the world’s best footballers is on the move the name of Manchester United is never out of the conversation for long.
There are far more obvious destinations for Messi if the 33-year-old does go through with his latest threat to cut ties with Barcelona. The other side of Manchester, for starters.
But the reality is the name Manchester United attracts interest, so there was never going to be a Messileaves-Barcelona saga without a move to Old Trafford being given credence and oxygen in some part of the world.
It was enough for some bookmakers to make them fourth or fifth favourites to sign Messi, whose legal team insist he can leave Barcelona for free this summer, rather than for the 700m euro release clause that is present in his contract, which expires in 2021. It is the biggest story in world football right now and it can only be given added gravitas if United are thrown in there too.
That, however, is where the story pretty much ends, barring a stunning change of heart.
United aren’t fuelling this fire, they’re doing nothing to encourage the speculation, although they haven’t necessarily taken a fire extinguisher to it to cool it completely either.
Whether it hurts for any club to be mentioned next to Messi’s potential availability is another question.
Yet the truth is a deal to take Messi to Old Trafford is incredibly unlikely.
That picture of an embrace between Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the Argentine at the Nou Camp during the 2018/19 Champions League quarterfinal is not a hint of a future working relationship.
United have spent months since the COVID-19 pandemic lit a fuse under football’s finances telling people that this summer won’t be ‘business as usual’.
Ed Woodward has said it and club officials have been repeating it off the record for months and months.
The club have warned all along not to expect £100m+ transfers this summer and not to expect multiple big-money deals.
That’s why negotiations with Borussia Dortmund for Jadon Sancho continue to reach a dead end.
United simply can’t countenance paying £108m for the 20-year-old this summer. They want to do a deal, but not that deal.
So suddenly moving for a 33-year-old who is on wages of around £1m-a-week would mark a remarkable U-turn from the club, even if we’re talking about one of the greatest players to ever play the game.
Messi might win the battle with Barcelona to be allowed to leave on a free, but he makes Alexis Sanchez’s weekly wage look like it could have been found down the back of the sofa in the Carrington reception.
The idea of signing Messi is an attractive one for every European superclub, but that doesn’t make the fantasy any more of a reality.
United knew they would be linked with him when his itchy feet became public, but don’t expect it to move beyond that.