From 25 October to 1 November 2026, Inter Miami will host The Messi Cup, a youth tournament for U-16 teams featuring 16 of the world’s top academies, including Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester City, Ajax, and Inter. Among the participants is London’s Chelsea. For many fans, the Blues' appearance in Miami is merely a nod to the prestige of the Cobham academy. However, for those who recall the events of 2013 and 2014, it serves as a reminder of one of football's most intriguing stories: the time when Lionel Messi almost donned the blue shirt of the London club.
Adidas' plan for a quarter of a billion euros (2013)
The first wave of serious talk regarding Messi's move to Stamford Bridge took off in 2013, primarily driven by Adidas, the striker’s sponsor. The German sports giant wanted to lure the world's top star out of Barcelona, tied to their rival Nike's contract, and into one of their own clubs: Chelsea, Bayern Munich, or Real Madrid.
The proposed financing was staggering; Adidas offered to cover half of Messi's buyout clause, which stood at 250 million euros. Chelsea would only need to stump up the remaining 125 million. Reports suggested that in autumn 2013, both Chelsea and Bayern were keen to pull off a deal that would see the total investment exceed 340 million dollars, but Barcelona firmly rejected all offers.
At the time, Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, was one of the few capable of making such a move happen. A financial hurdle was never an issue; rather, it was Messi's own attachment to the club that nurtured him through his formative years, outweighing any marketing ambitions of the giant sports brand.
Mourinho's arrival and the Stamford Bridge meeting (2014)
The second attempt was significantly closer to fruition. In the summer of 2014, Chelsea was under the guidance of Jose Mourinho once again. As insider Gianluca Di Marzio revealed in his book, "Grand Hotel Calciomercato", Messi was seriously considering a departure from Spain due to a high-profile tax evasion court case casting a shadow over his life in Catalonia.
Chelsea went all in. Mourinho personally reached out to Messi via video call, using all his charm to label the Argentinian the best in the world and detailing the immense challenge awaiting him in the Premier League.
The club was prepared to activate Messi's 250 million euro buyout clause and offer a staggering wage of around 50 million pounds per year. The idea of living in London and working under Mourinho appealed to Messi, with former teammate Cesc Fabregas — who had recently signed for Chelsea — and agent Deco getting involved in the discussions.
According to Di Marzio, Messi even secretly visited Stamford Bridge. Negotiations were handled by Chelsea’s director Marina Granovskaia, acting on Abramovich's direct orders. The skeleton of this historic deal was fully agreed upon.
Why the transfer of the century fell through
The deal ultimately collapsed due to a classic reason in Messi's career: his emotional tie to Catalonia was stronger than the external circumstances. Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Abramovich himself was insistent on making the signing happen, and Chelsea’s lawyers were pushing to expedite negotiations, but they all hit a wall when it came to Messi's unwillingness to sever ties with what he regarded as his home.
Di Marzio's account adds a family drama into the mix: news of the clandestine meetings reached Messi's father and agent, Jorge Messi, having been tipped off by Deco. The family council decided that Lionel would remain at Camp Nou. Chelsea had to settle for signing Cesc Fabregas — a fantastic acquisition, but one that paled in comparison to bringing in the Argentinian.
The mysterious social media follow
The memory of the unrealised union transcends beyond insiders' memoirs and seeps into Messi’s social media activity as well. Messi is notoriously selective online, only following a few hundred accounts, with only a handful being football clubs.
His timeline features milestones from his life: Barcelona, his formative club Newell's Old Boys, current team Inter Miami, and even his childhood team La Bajada, alongside the Uruguayan project Deportivo LSM with Luis Suarez.
Amidst this, two noticeable exceptions from England stand out — Manchester City and Chelsea. Messi has never played for either of them.
This anomaly has intrigued fans for years. After leaving Paris Saint-Germain in 2023, Messi promptly unfollowed the Parisians, but Chelsea remained on his selected list. Some view this as an echo of the secret negotiations from 2014, while others believe it signals some personal fondness. The fact remains: Messi's follow of the Blues has become an integral part of club folklore.
The invitation for Chelsea's youth setup to participate in The Messi Cup in Miami is a testament to the high calibre of the London academy. Yet, it serves as yet another elegant reminder of how close the destinies of one of the Argentinian genius and the London club once came, hinging on a single phone call.
