Real Madrid tried to sign Lionel Messi from Barcelona three times - report

According to El Partido de las Doce, hosted on Cadena COPE, Messi spurned Real Madrid’s advances on all three occasions, ranging from 2011 to 2015.

“Thanks, but my club is FC Barcelona,” Messi is reported to have told Florentino Perez, who was angling for another huge coup on the scale of Luis Figo.

Perez famously won the Madrid presidency by promising to sign Figo from Barcelona in 2000 and, to astonishment in Catalunya, actually managed to pull off one of the most bitter transfers in football history.

Figo, who would have suffered a huge financial penalty if he did not sign for Perez, based on a pre-contract agreement arranged by his agent, cost Real Madrid £37.4m, but the symbolic value was even greater.

Here are the three times Real Madrid tried to sign Messi, according to Cadena COPE:

In the summer of 2011, with Cristiano Ronaldo being tempted by the huge money on offer at Manchester City, a person close to the president, but with no official role at Real Madrid, scheduled a meeting with Messi outside of Spain. He was told that Messi had no intention of jumping ship.

In June 2013, Neymar had just signed for Barcelona in a snub to Madrid and Ronaldo was still refusing to sign a new contract (which he eventually did in September of that year). Perez was concerned and dispatched a top executive to try and tempt Messi from Camp Nou. Again, Madrid failed.

Fresh from Barcelona’s magnificent treble, Perez again tried to sign a player who by now was arguably the greatest to ever play the game. Again, a top executive went to see Messi. Again, Madrid were turned down.