Chelsea once agreed a £200m+ deal to sign Lionel Messi from Barcelona, however, a former Blues star stopped the Argentine icon moving to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea’s best signings under Abramovich
After Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea for £140m in 2003, he turned the Blues into a force to be reckoned with, especially in the transfer market, smashing the club’s record signing on numerous occasions. In total, the Russian spent more than £2bn on player signings while also splashing £90m when it came to hiring and firing managers.
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Chelsea’s most expensive signings of all time
Todd Boehly has spent big in recent years.
Major trophies would be a regular occurrence for Abramovich during his time at Stamford Bridge, but he would eventually sell up in 2022.
Abramovich’s top Chelsea signings in pictures
Abramovich employed numerous managers for Chelsea, and one of the most successful bosses he hired was Jose Mourinho.
Across two spells as Chelsea manager, Mourinho won eight major honours, including lifting the Premier League on three occasions.
|
Jose Mourinho honours at Chelsea |
Years won |
|---|---|
|
Premier League |
2005, 2006, 2015 |
|
FA Cup |
2007 |
|
League Cup |
2005, 2007, 2015 |
|
Community Shield |
2005 |
He managed some top-quality attackers in London, including Didier Drogba and Eden Hazard, however, Mourinho so nearly worked with Messi at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea agreed £200m+ deal to sign Messi under Abramovich
Back in 2014, Chelsea attempted to sign Messi from Barcelona, with Mourinho holding a face-to-face video call with the legendary attacker.
The manager looked to have persuaded Messi to depart the Nou Camp for Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea agreeing to trigger Messi’s €250m (£210.9m) release clause and hand him a huge wage packet in England worth around £50m per season plus 70 per cent of image rights. Mourinho reportedly told Messi he couldn’t wait to work with him, as per Gianluca Di Marzio.
“Hi Leo, I’m Jose! How you doing, champ? They just told me about your wish: well, you don’t know how many sleepless nights I have had, trying to find a way to stop you. I’ve tried to employ countless strategies it would all work until you would find the winning dribble and score. You’re the best, full stop.”
Messi was also quoted admitting he actually wanted to move to Chelsea.
“I want to go to Chelsea, let’s hurry up. With Mourinho, for how he’s spoken to me, I can win whatever I want: he’s a winner, go ahead and close the deal.”
However, former Chelsea midfielder Deco was alerted of a deal by Cesc Fabregas and made Messi’s father and agent Jorge, aware of the talks, which led to a deal ultimately falling through.
As we know, Messi has continued to show why he is one of the greatest players of all time and would eventually leave Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
The attacker then headed to the MLS with Inter Miami and has never played in the Premier League, so Chelsea fans may think differently of Deco knowing he helped stopped a transfer.
