Messi Threatening Spanish Government With Premier League Transfer
Rumors about Barcelona’s Lionel Messi moving to the Premier League are nothing new. It’s a sure-fire way to sell papers in the UK and ensure web clicks around the globe. The latest rumors surrounding the world’s greatest player making his way to one of the EPL’s top clubs have more validity than normal though. The Messi camp is making noise about willingness to leave La Liga, but it’s not because he dreams of a Premier League move. It’s a tactical maneuver designed to pressure than Spanish government into backing off tax charges against Messi and his father.
The latest in the never-ending court battle between Spain and the Messi family puts the Argentine No 10 in danger of actual jail time. Spanish attorneys, per the Guardian, are seeking sentences in excess of 20 months for both Messi and his father. This cannot sit well with the world’s most famous football player.
Messi has already tried to deploy lawyers to battle the Spanish government and that method has proved to be largely unsuccessful. Now, he has decided to use the court of public opinion to turn things into his favor. Just think about it logically. Messi is immensely popular worldwide and especially in Spain due to his Barcelona affiliation. The best way he can exert pressure on the Spanish government is to threaten leaving the nation behind. Messi fans might riot if their favorite player left for the Premier League. Such unrest would be a horrible black eye on the Spanish government if they were deemed to be the reason behind his flight.
The dots are easy to connect here. There has never been a time in the history of football where a Messi to the Premier League rumor would be more logical. The EPL is set to cash in on a gigantic television deal that could bring his enormous release clause into play for several of the league’s top clubs. Messi and his people no doubt understand this. That’s why they’ve picked now to start to leak stories to the press that he might be open to a move.
They float the believable story out there to reputable media outlets and let them do the real work. The stories start to emerge in the English press from credible sources and explode across the globe. Now fans of Barcelona and Spanish soccer get wind of the rumors and begin to panic. They start to ask themselves if there is anything they can do to hold on to their footballing treasure.
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Of course Messi won’t come out and publicly ask for charges to be dropped to make his stay more likely, but you can bet someone will do so on his behalf. All it will take is finding the right Barcelona/La Liga fan to speak to the right politician and presto, those charges will find a way to be resolved. It might not mean total exoneration for the Messi family, but you can bet there won’t be any jail time or significant financial penalty.
The end goal for the Messi family isn’t finding a great situation for the brilliant footballer in England. The ultimate goal is to make sure that their legal troubles in Spain are over for once and for all. The best way to do this just happens to be scaring the Spanish fan base into thinking he actually might abandon them for the Premier League. He won’t, but until his legal troubles disappear, look for the stories to become stronger and stronger linking him to a variety of EPL clubs.
It’s a clever plan really that Messi and his cohorts have hatched to pressure the Spanish government by using the Premier League. Just don’t bother printing any personalized Messi jerseys for your favorite EPL club based on well sourced rumors.