500 million euros. That was the figure Massimo Moratti, former president of Inter Milan, put on the table for Lionel Messi in 2012, madness at the time.
He sent his own vice president to Barcelona to negotiate in person. But Messi didn’t even open the envelope. There was no need: for him, playing for another club was never a real option.
When Moratti finally managed to speak with him face-to-face, the answer was as simple as it was definitive: “I appreciate your interest in me, but I want to retire in Barcelona”.
Moratti acknowledged it years later, almost with resignation: he knew what the situation was, but thought money could sway a decision that had already been made in the heart.
He was wrong. Some shirts simply have no price