Inter Milan offered Barcelona £225m for Lionel Messi in 2006 – more than QUADRUPLE the world-record transfer fee at time

BARCELONA turned down a £225million Inter Milan bid for Lionel Messi in 2006, according to their former club president Joan Laporta. The Catalan politician – who served as the club’s chief between 2003 and 2010 – before returning earlier this year. And Laporta, 58, was asked about the future of unhappy talisman Lionel Messi – […]

BARCELONA turned down a £225million Inter Milan bid for Lionel Messi in 2006, according to their former club president Joan Laporta.

The Catalan politician – who served as the club’s chief between 2003 and 2010 – before returning earlier this year.

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Messi was already hot property back in 2006[/caption]

EPA

Joan Laporta served as Barcelona’s president between 2003 and 2010 and is now back[/caption]

And Laporta, 58, was asked about the future of unhappy talisman Lionel Messi – leading to a stunning admission.

He told Radio Onda Cero: “Nobody who loves Barcelona can have doubts about Messi.

“We rejected a €250m (£225m) offer coming from Inter in 2006. [Massimo] Moratti wanted to bring him to his club.”

The offer dwarfed what was the transfer world-record at the time, which was then the £46.6m that Real Madrid paid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

At the time, inspired by the likes of Javier Zanetti, Adriano and Luis Figo, Inter had just won Serie A – while Messi had picked up his first Champions League medal with Barca.

The Argentine, now 33, has gone on to pick up three more – but not since 2015.

And Laporta has outlined his plan to return the club to former glories, starting by sorting out their ailing finances.

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The transfer record was previously held by Zinedine Zidane at £46.6m[/caption]

He continued: “We have a plan to recover the dramatic economic situation of the club.

“We can’t fix the world but we can make it a better place and we want to do it through hard work, passion and love.

“We want to bring happiness to people, it’s not an electoral promise. It’s an ethical, civic, moral commitment.”

Key to restoring the feel-good factor at Barca will be getting Messi back onside, with the frustrated six-time Ballon d’Or winner out of contract in the summer, having tried to leave last year.