Abramovich wants Messi at Chelsea, orders management to open talks, as Man City back out

Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich has mandated his management team to open talks with 6-time Ballon d’Or winner and Argentina International, Lionel Messi over a possible transfer to his club, this window.

Messi has become the most sought after free agent in world football after his contract extension talks with former club, Barcelona broke down following the ability of the Spanish outfit to meet the agreement already reached by both parties.

Messi had earlier agreed to a new three-year contract with Barcelona but the club had needed to offload about one-third of its squad in sale or loan deal in order to afford the wages of Messi as mandated by the La Liga.

The Argentine was even reported to have agreed to a 50 per cent pay cut in order to squeeze through the deal.

As it stands, the star is free to negotiate a transfer with any other club.

Meanwhile, Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, has decided to sign departing Barcelona captain, Messi, this summer.

Diario AS reports that Abramovich on Friday requested an urgent meeting with Messi’s team as he wants to sign the Argentine captain before the end of this transfer window.

The report claimed that Abramovich took the decision after seeing Premier League rivals, Manchester City hang up on Messi.

Barcelona had officially announced on Thursday that their captain, Messi, will be leaving Camp Nou as a free agent this summer.

Messi’s contract with the Catalan club expired on July 1 and he was believed to have agreed on fresh terms.

However, the new contract couldn’t be finalised ‘due to financial and structural problems [rules relating to the Spanish topflight league],’ an official club statement said.

Another English Premier League side, Manchester City fresh from signing Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for over £110m, has also ruled themselves out of the race for Messi’s signature, which leaves French club, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in contention with Chelsea.

Man City coach, Pep Guardiola, had officially ruled out any possibility of the club signing departing Barcelona captain, Messi, Friday, saying his side will not sign Messi because they have already signed Jack Grealish.

“We spent on Jack Grealish and he will wear number 10 because we (were) convinced about him, and thought Leo would stay.

“Now Messi is not in our plans,” Guardiola told the BBC.

However, it is also believed that Man City is saving money for an eventual bid for Tottenham striker, Harry Kane.

An initial bid of £110m was turned down last week by Tottenham.

So far Kane has refused to show up for Tottenham’s pre-season training as he continues to seek his exit from the North London club, claiming he had a gentleman’s agreement with club owner, Daniel Levy, to leave at the end last season.

According to famous transfer expert and Italian journalist, Fabrizio Romano, PSG are the ones much closer to signing Messi, with former teammate at Barcelona, the Brazilian Neymar even offering his shirt number to the Argentine star in order to woo him over.

PSG are said to have already finalized agreement and wage details for Messi as they await the star to sign the deal.

Reports on Friday evening claim he is ‘close’ to joining Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year contract.

The free transfer could be confirmed as soon as this weekend.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano tweeted: “Paris Saint-Germain are close to sign Leo Messi, confirmed. PSG are preparing the official contract until June 2023 to be submitted to Messi and his father Jorge in the next hours.

“Messi’s open to join PSG. Neymar was pushing in the last 24h. PSG are so, so confident.”

If he eventually joins PSG, Messi will be earning as much as €769,000-a-week at the French club, as confirmed by trusted tabloid, L’Equipe.

The Argentine maestro’s weekly earnings mean that he will be earning around €40 million per annum in the French capital.

That comes to €769,230-per-week, €109,890-per-day, €4579-per-hour or €76-per-minute.

PSG are said to have tabled a two year deal with the option to extend it by another year.

After his transfer, if Messi ends up staying at the Parc des Princes for three years, he could earn around €120m per year, after taxes.

The most incredible aspect about this figure is that it does not include various performance related bonuses and a signing-on fee that Messi will receive from the Qatar owned club.

Messi is expected to form an incredible attacking line alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.

It will also be intriguing to see how he gels on with his former nemesis in Sergio Ramos. These two were always at odds when it came to Barcelona and Real Madrid’s rivalry in Spain.