Weak world exclusives: Messi to Real Madrid

Thanks for this, John Cross. Thanks so much. This is what the Mirror brings you that no other newspapers in the world have bothered with:

Real Madrid planning record-breaking £120m bid for Lionel Messi - World Exclusive

We’ve often wondered if Leo Messi is the only player in world football who’s completely transfer rumour immune, but no, there it is - nobody is safe. Even if it’s make-believe.

Real Madrid are planning another record breaking transfer deal this summer with a £120million offer for Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

That’s just the headline again with a few new words. Which is a shame, because if you were going to run a story as potentially fantastic as this, you might be trying to free the word count up for, say, facts.

It is a deal which is designed to send shock waves through world football as Real Madrid plan to upset their fiercest rivals by going for their best player.

That’s… not… evidence. That’s just the obvious.

Real Madrid paid a world record £80m to Manchester United last summer for Cristiano Ronaldo but have struggled to topple Barcelona in La Liga.

Again, thanks for the summary, but most people will probably have heard about that particular deal when it happened. Over. And. Over. Besides, John, you’re running out of words in which to tell us your facts.

The original plan was to make the £120million  offer - which is the buy-out figure written into Messi’s contract - during the week of the Champions League final to detract from Barcelona playing in the Bernabeu.

Ah - brilliant. First sign of something tangible, and sure enough, it’s poorly-researched bull. Messi’s buy-out contract is €250m. How do we know that? Because we took a look at this page on the official Barcelona website, and read the following about his new deal:

Lionel Messi extended his stay at FC Barcelona when he put pen-to-paper on a new deal at the club on Friday. The Argentinian forward’s new agreement runs until 2016 and has a buy-out clause of €250million included.

Having previously had a contract until 2014 with a clause of €150million the club have improved the player’s deal.

Time it took us to research that? Less than a minute.

But Barcelona’s semi final exit has now meant they will not have to do it in that timescale but president Florentino Perez still intends to make a shock offer to show that Real Madrid mean business again this summer.

This is another flaw with these kinds of rumours. So it was all set to be done during the build-up to the Champions League final? But now it isn’t going to happen? Ah well, there you go, says John, but it was definitely going to happen. At least this summer we’ll get to see it for ourselves.

Last summer, Real Madrid spent in excess of £220million  on Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema, Alvaro Arbeloa and Raul Albiol.

But it has failed to deliver the Champions League to Real Madrid and now they plan to steal Barcelona’s thunder by making a bid for Messi.

Filler!

Real Madrid do not expect that Barcelona will agree to the sale and the bid will ultimately fail but it shows that they can still outgun when it comes to spending power.

That’s the final conclusion?

One - they’re going to offer Messi’s buy-out value (well, the value it used to be, according to Cross). Barcelona have to agree to it - that’s what a buy-out clause is. Two - Messi will be the one who refuses it, because he really thinks that Barcelona are the best thing since sliced bread. And given he’s won literally everything with them and he’s their star player, and owes them a debt of gratitude for them helping him come through the ranks, he’s not going anywhere. Three - to show their rivals they can “still outgun when it comes to spending power” they could always point to the “excess of £220m” of transfer fees they paid last summer. Or, you know, say, buy some real players this summer who will actually leave their clubs and ply their trade for Real. Options.