Report claims Spurs played a role in Messi’s departure from Barcelona

Tottenham Hotspur may have played a role in Lionel Messi’s departure from Barcelona, with multiple reports indicating the Argentine was keen for the Catalan giants to snap up Cristian Romero.

Romero is expected to be officially announced as a Tottenham player today after the North Londoners agreed on a £47m fee with Atalanta.

Meanwhile, the footballing world was shocked yesterday when Barcelona announced that they will be parting ways with Messi.

The club confirmed that while they had been able to reach an agreement with the 34-year-old legend, La Liga regulations made the operation impossible.

There have been some theories doing the rounds on the potential reason behind Messi’s exit and one of those involves Tottenham.

Mundo Depertivo (as relayed by Sport Witness) claim the six-time Ballon d’or winner requested Barca to sign Romero this summer but the La Liga club found negotiations with Atalanta to be complex.

The report adds that Barca’s failure to sign Romero was one of the reasons Messi declined a new contract.

Football.London’s Alasdair Gold also revealed that Messi tried his best to get Barcelona to make a move for his international teammate before Spurs struck a deal for the centre-back.

Spurs Web Opinion

While it stands to reason that Messi might have wanted Barca to go after Romero, it is unlikely that the Catalan club’s failure to sign the centre-back was the main reason the 34-year-old has not signed a new contract.

In fact, I view this move by Barca as being a powerplay to put pressure on La Liga to relax their financial regulations. I still expect Messi to sign a new contract and remain at Camp Nou.

However, there is no doubt that Spurs are fortunate to get Romero. Under normal circumstances, one would have expected a lot more competition from elite European clubs for the 23-year-old but Spanish and Italian clubs are now struggling due to the financial impact of the pandemic.

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know