Marina makes Chelsea’s transfer decision on Lionel Messi after player becomes a free agent
Lionel Messi is currently free to speak with Chelsea in regards to signing on a free transfer this summer.
The Barcelona superstar is arguably the biggest name who could become a free agent next week, unless he signs a new deal with the Catalan giants between now and June 30, 2021.
That scenario appears to be likely despite the fact that he handed in a transfer request last summer and wanted to exercise a clause in his contract which would have allowed him to leave for free.
Although that particular clause expired in June 2020 and Messi confirmed he would remain at Barcelona for the 2020/21 season as no club were able to pay his £624m release clause.
Fast forward a year and reports claim an announcement regarding Messi signing a two-year extension is imminent.
With that said, the 34-year-old would not have commanded a transfer fee if he did decide to leave Barca this summer amid links to Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
It almost goes without saying that Chelsea would have been interested in signing a player of Messi’s calibre.
However, that does not mean they would have tried to sign him this summer.
As reported by the Telegraph in 2015, upon being put in charge of Chelsea transfers, Granovskaia did not want to change the wage structure in place, with no player getting more than £200k-a-week.
That was bad news for Radamel Falcao at the time as he didn’t earn the same reported £265,000-a-week wage when on loan at Manchester United as he did during his loan spell with the Blues.
Moving for Messi this summer would have gone against Granovskaia’s plans as the Argentina international reportedly earns £500k-a-week at Barcelona and it would be a surprise if he’d be willing to take a massive wage cut.
Of course signing Messi would have improved Chelsea as a team in the short-term and perhaps made them serious Premier League title contenders next season.
But it could have created disharmony within the squad if Granovskaia shattered the club’s wage structure for a player who may not have much longer at the top level – even if it is arguably the greatest player of all time.