Lionel Messi's childhood Argentina club want to sign the superstar in 2018
Newell's Old Boys are already making their plans to land Lionel Messi. The Argentine club, where Messi played as a child before joining Barcelona, are targeting 2018 as their chance to bring the superstar back to Newell's.
"I am convinced, like many of my peers, we can make history as a club if we get the best player in the world in a Newell's shirt," club vice president Cristian D'Amico told La Capital.
"I think we're going to get the pleasure of Messi wearing the shirt. It would be revolutionary.
"Imagine a game with Messi in the Coloso [Estadio Marcelo Bielsa], with the press around the world, the sponsors who would come ... that would make a difference and economically, apart from the sentimental value, it could make a big difference to cleaning up the debts."
D'Amico admitted that the club has a ways to go before they can realistically make a run at Messi, but the upside is obvious. While Messi's wages would absolutely smash any sort of pay structure the club has now, the revenue he'd generate for them would pay for it and then some.
Messi has said before they he would like to return to Argentina at some point in his career and that he would only do so if he played for Newell's. He qualified that by saying there are a lot of variables and who knows if it will happen, but he's certainly thought about the possibility and likes the idea of it.
Messi's contract with Barcelona expires in 2018, which would make it easy for him to join Newell's then, although there have been reports of him potentially signing a new contract at the Camp Nou. The superstar will be 31 years old in 2018 and would be coming off of the World Cup so it would make sense to move then. Of course, there are still so many question marks and we're two years out so who knows, but the idea of Messi in Newell's red and black, with an adoring Argentina crowd backing him, does feel a little bit more realistic.
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