Jose Mourinho nearly convinced Lionel Messi to join Chelsea in 2014

The Argentine agreed to join the Blues before his agent stopped the move.

Chelsea have accomplished some major deals as a football club. But they could have executed one of the biggest in football history 11 years ago.

Back then, during a tax cheating issue, Lionel Messi mulled quitting Barcelona and was apparently more than willing to consider joining Chelsea.

During his two stints as the Blues’ manager, Jose Mourinho has done some outstanding work and led them to the Premier League twice.

For instance, Jose Mourinho brought Diego Costa to Stamford Bridge eight years after bringing Michael Ballack to the club on a free transfer in 2006. However, acquiring Messi would have undoubtedly been his biggest transfer market success.

Mourinho appeared to have done the difficult thing when Chelsea attempted to buy Messi in 2014: persuade the forward to depart his beloved Barcelona.

Journalist Gianluca Di Marzio disclosed in his book Grand Hotel Calciomercato that Mourinho had convinced Messi to relocate to West London. But two parties, including the former Blues hero Deco, ultimately stood in Chelsea’s way.

Deco was a member of Chelsea from 2008 to 2010, helping the team win two FA Cups and one Premier League championship. He was well-liked when he left Stamford Bridge.

Deco’s popularity among Chelsea fans might have declined after all of the disclosures in Di Marzio’s book.

According to a 2020 Sky Sports excerpt from Grand Hotel Calciomercato, Deco informed Messi’s father and agent Jorge that the footballer had been in communication with Mourinho to join Chelsea.

According to Grand Hotel Calciomercato, Jorge obviously did not enjoy being in the dark. As a result, the agreement fell through due to both him and Deco.

It most likely would have been worthwhile for Chelsea fans had Messi joined them. However, Deco and Jorge Messi’s influence prevented Jose Mourinho and Roman Abramovich’s dream from ever materialising.

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