Danny Mills has claimed that none of the top teams in the Premier League, including Tottenham, would take Lionel Messi if you offered them the chance to sign the Argentine this summer.
Spurs certainly have the firepower up front to match any side in world football at the moment.
Dejan Kulusevski added a different dimension to Tottenham’s attack alongside Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in the second half of last season, and the North London club have now supplemented their frontline with the addition of Richarlison.
Mills believes that Tottenham’s frontline, along with City’s and Liverpool’s, is so strong that even Messi would not get into the club’s starting eleven.
The Argentine forward has shown major signs of decline over the last 12 months and managed just 11 goals during the 2021/22 campaign (Transfermarkt), which was his worst return in well over a decade.
While Mills acknowledged that the former Barcelona man is the greatest footballer he has ever seen, he insisted that the 35-year-old would no longer get into the best teams in the world.
The pundit told talkSPORT: “Would you take Lionel Messi.. who I think is the greatest footballer I have ever seen. I didn’t see Cruyff live, I didn’t see Maradona.
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“Messi is the greatest footballer I have ever seen. I know Ronaldo’s numbers may be a little bit better. He’s more of a big-game player, and all the rest of it.
“But as a pure footballer, Messi is the greatest. But would you take Messi now in your team? Probably not.”
When asked if the top teams in the Premier League could take Messi, Mills responded: “No, I don’t think they would.”
The former Manchester City defender then added that Messi would not get into the Liverpool and Manchester City team, and then when quizzed if Tottenham would take him, he repeated: “No, I don’t think they would.”
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I can see where Mills is coming from as Messi has seemingly lost his legs over the last two years, and he would not really be able to deliver the kind of work rate off the ball that the likes of Pep, Klopp and Conte demand off their players.
However, having said that, the 35-year-old is still capable of producing moments of magic on the ball to create something from nothing. So, I would jump at the chance of having Messi at Spurs, even though he might not start every game at this stage of his career.
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