Reports have emerged over how close Chelsea were to sign Lionel Messi as the west London club were ready to pay the Barcelona star £1MILLION a week to complete a world-record £225m transfer in 2014.
Owner Roman Abramovich was prepared to dig deep into his pockets to land the Argentine superstar after boss Jose Mourinho held a FaceTime call with him, according to Sky Italy’s Gianluca di Marzio.
The Russian billionaire and Mourinho were keen to trigger Messi’s buy-out clause and would have rewarded him spectacularly with annual wages of around £50m.
The report states Chelsea first contacted Messi in January 2014 during his tax fraud probe.
The forward was fed up with Spanish authorities and a glitzy move to London looked an attractive proposition.
Messi asked old Barca pal and player agent Deco for his opinion, having played at Stamford Bridge, before holding a video chat with Mourinho.
Messi is said to have been convinced by ‘winner’ Mourinho and was keen to finalise a deal.
But, according to the report, things fell through when Deco was eased out of discussions and Mourinho spoke directly to Messi.
Cesc Fabregas – who would move to West London that summer – told Deco, who promptly informed Messi’s dad Jorge and things unravelled.
Jorge was fuming that personal terms had been agreed without his say-so and promptly convinced his son to pull the plug on the ground-breaking deal.