Posted by The Blues were close to signing Lionel Messi from Barcelona in 2014 according to Gianluca Di Marzio in his new book Grand, Hotel Calciomercato. Taking an excerpts from the book, Messi was tempted to leave Barca following allegations of tax evasion and even had a constructive FaceTime call with then Blues manager Jose Mourinho but the tax issue was later resolved.
At that time, Chelsea were ready to activate the Argentine’s €250 million release clause and pay him a net salary of £50m but Messi ultimately got cold feet after a call from his father just as the recent one and he stayed back till date.
Source: Goal.com