HISTORIC CONFESSION FROM MORATTI: MESSI REJECTED 500M EUROS

In the exclusive news shared by SPORT, one of the leading sources of the Spanish sports press, legendary former president of Italy Serie A giant Inter Massimo Moratti made a highly striking transfer confession about Argentine superstar Lionel Messi. The experienced football man explained in full detail that they offered a jaw-dropping proposal to the talented player who wore the Barcelona jersey at that time in 2012. Telling about those historic days with a great sincerity years later, Moratti used these striking expressions: "I made a 500 million Euros offer for Lionel Messi in 2012. That figure was simply crazy in those periods. I sent the vice president of Inter to Barcelona for an official meeting, but Messi did not even open the letter and did not value our offer. He rejected the offer directly without even knowing the details of the matter. Afterwards, Messi called me personally and said, 'Thank you for your interest in me, but I want to retire at Barcelona.' These were extremely simple words for him. He wanted to stay at Barcelona and I knew this very well. I tried to tempt him with money but it did not happen in any way." This historic confession of Moratti that emerged years later revealed that unique dedication of the Argentine star to the Catalan giant once again. This massive financial move, which was big enough to shake the European football market from its foundations, succumbed to the legendary player's belonging to football and his club, not to money. The Italian club mobilized all its financial means to the end to realize by far the most expensive transfer in football history at that time, but could not break that unshakable determination of the Argentine striker in any way. These special statements, which created a huge echo in the football world, proved that feeling of belonging and loyalty in Messi's career that could never be bought with money to all football fans once again. The star name, who continued his career with great records, preferred to stay at his club he saw as his home despite all the attractive insistences of the Inter side at that time and had his name written in world football with golden letters.

IMAGE: DAİLY POST