Chelsea tried to sign Messi in 2014: Fabrizio Romano

Making a huge revelation, Italian journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has claimed that Chelsea made an attempt to sign Lionel Messi back in 2014, but were unable to convince him to leave Barcelona.

Messi, one of the greatest ever to play the game, had spent his entire professional career up until last summer at Camp Nou. Throughout his stint with the Catalan giants, there have been many overtures made by clubs to sign him, but he never considered leaving the Blaugrana.

And, it was the same when Chelsea made an approach for him in 2014, as revealed by Romano on his YouTube channel.

With Chelsea set for a change of ownership after Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale, Romano recounted the top five transfer deals that had collapsed during the Russian oligarch’s tenure since he bought the Blues back in 2003.

The Italian journalist revealed that Abramovich wanted Messi at Stamford Bridge back in 2014, when Jose Mourinho was in his second spell as Chelsea manager.

“It was not that close but Chelsea were really trying to sign Lionel Messi in 2014, with José Mourinho as the manager. They were really pushing to try and persuade Messi to join them,” Romano said.

“They [Chelsea] were contacting people close to Leo Messi, discussing with lawyers close to Messi to try to convince him for a new opportunity in the Premier League.”

However, Messi decided not to pay any heed to these overtures from Chelsea and stayed put at Barcelona.

“But then everything collapsed because Barcelona was something special for Lionel Messi. He decided together with his family to stay in Catalonia and continue his experience with Barça,” Romano added.

“Roman Abramovich wanted Leo Messi. He was seriously trying to sign Messi as the new star for Chelsea but the deal collapsed.”

While Chelsea were unable to lure Messi from Barcelona in 2014, the Blues did sign Cesc Fabregas from the Catalan club, with the Spaniard going on to enjoy a successful stint at Stamford Bridge.

As for Messi, having remained in Catalonia, he went on to achieve even more greatness and led the team to great heights, before circumstances led to a shock exit last summer as he joined PSG on a free transfer.