Lionel Messi to Inter Milan is a dream of club’s Chinese owners that dates back to 2016
- Steven Zhang, now chairman of the Serie A runners-up, told club officials to ‘get Messi’ soon after Suning took control of the club
- A year on from a failed attempt to take Gareth Bale to Chinese Super League rumours grow of move to poach Barcelona star
Inter Milan’s supposed courtship of Barcelona star Lionel Messi is the most talked about prospective football transfer of the summer, with rumours and reports adding further twists to the tale on a daily basis.
The desire to bring the Argentina international to Milan has been in place since 2016 when Chinese retail giants Suning took over the club, according to Italian media reports.
Steven Zhang is understood to have told club officials to “get Messi” at a meeting in New York soon after taking control of the club from Indonesian Erick Thohir. Zhang, son of Suning owner Zhang Jindong, became club chairman in 2018.
Rumours that Messi, who has gone public with his upset at the Barcelona board as they face a trophyless season, will leave the Catalan giants after 15 years in the first team have been fuelled by Spanish reports that he can leave the club this summer for less than his €700 million release clause as per his contract.
The noise has increased with the news last weekend that his father, who handles his business affairs, has bought property in Milan and the 33-year-old has since followed suit.
This came after PPTV, the Suning owned sports streaming service, used a Messi silhouette projected on Milan’s famous Duomo cathedral to promote Inter against Napoli to Chinese fans last month. The move was reported to have angered the Barcelona boardroom.
Suning have reportedly looked at the off-pitch success of Juventus bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to Serie A and sponsorship interest will offset the outlay of €260 million in salary to take Messi to San Siro.
Former Inter striker Eder, who moved to Suning’s Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning in 2018, told Gazzetta dello Sport soon after his move that the Milan side could get Messi one day.
“I’ve seen Suning’s sense of empire from within, and they have everything to bring Inter up to the height of that empire,” he told the newspaper.
No Gareth Bale so who has won the CSL transfer window?
“Inter have become a family affair for Suning, and family is everything for them. When they bought Inter, they said certain things and they’re doing exactly what they said they would.
“They talked about growth: they didn’t promise a league title, the Champions League or Messi right away. Suning can make Inter dream. [They can sign] even Messi if they want.”
Former club great Sandro Mazzola, a star of the 1960s, said as much in 2017. “Suning have the strength to get those they want, including Messi,” he told Italy’s Il Mattino newspaper.
Gareth Bale to China? Rivals might need him to stop Evergrande
Suning had agreed a deal to take Gareth Bale to their Chinese Super League club in Nanjing last summer before Real Madrid pulled the plug after demanding a last minute transfer fee.
Bale, who would have become the world’s highest paid player on £1 million per week, has now been frozen out at Real Madrid, with several reports suggesting he has never forgiven the Spanish club for calling off the move.
