Barcelona News: Real Madrid president admits he would have signed Lionel Messi

REAL MADRID would have signed Lionel Messi during Florentino Perez’s first term in charge, the president has revealed.
Barcelona scooped up Argentine Messi as a 14-year-old after his family move to Catalonia.

The forward has developed into one of the football’s greatest ever players, having won eight La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues at Barca.

His development also came during Barca’s rise to dominance in European football as former manager Pep Guardiola used to fruits of their La Masia academy to claim numbers trophies.




At the same time, big-spenders Real Madrid continued their policy of dominating the transfer windows – to varied success.
And Perez, whose first term as Real president ran between 2000 and 2006, admits he would have loved to have signed Messi.

“In my first term, I probably would have tried to sign Leo Messi,” Perez said.

“However, later on I wouldn’t because he is very ingrained in (Barcelona’s) institution.”

Messi is yet to sign a new contract at Barcelona, who lost Neymar to a hostile approach from PSG this summer.
Manchester City were linked with a £275million move for Messi – a deal that would have triggered his release clause.

But both clubs denied that interest and Messi is expected to sign his fresh terms at the Nou Camp.

Source:www.express.co.uk