Former Celt Kenny Dalglish believes that Lionel Messi is worth more than £100m to Barcelona.
Dalglish knows a thing about transfer values and recently completed £100m of trading, as Jock Brown might call it, when he sold Fernando Torres and used the money to buy Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez.
Three years ago Messi was preparing to face Lee Naylor at Celtic Park but tonight he’ll be at The Emirates to take on Arsenal in the most anticipated tie of the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola has a team full of entertainers and superstars but Messi’s name shines brighter than anyone else in the current game.
“Every player is said to have his price but Lionel Messi is so good he’s the exception to the rule,” Dalglish told the Daily Mail. “I wouldn’t have a clue how much he’d be worth in today’s market, it is impossible to evaluate in monetary terms.
“You wouldn’t just be buying a footballer, more an institution. He’s not only got a value as a player who has scored 40 goals already this season and probably created the same number again. He’s also got a value to Barcelona in terms of profile, merchandising and a symbol of the entire club.
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“I’ve heard £100million mentioned but that would be a snip. If you offered it, you wouldn’t get him. Think about it, 40 goals by February. The statistics are mind-boggling. As long as the club is running, Barcelona will want to keep him.
“As you can probably tell, I’m as excited by everyone else at the prospect of Arsenal- Barcelona. It’s always a privilege to welcome someone like Messi to England.
“He’s the best player in the world and it won’t be lost on Arsene Wenger that Messi’s closest challengers — Xavi and Andres Iniesta — also play for Barca. Their 5-0 win against Real Madrid has to rank as the best club performance I’ve ever seen.
“What I like particularly about him is how he manages to carry a huge air of confidence without being arrogant. You always sense he appreciates what he’s doing; he enjoys putting a smile on people’s faces and he has done that for millions of people.
“Messi was just a teenager when I first saw him live, playing for Barcelona at Chelsea in 2006, the year they won the Champions League. He stood out to me immediately because he was 18, in a Champions League semi-final and didn’t have a trace of fear in him.
“Arsenal have been hugely unlucky in drawing Barcelona, it was the worst draw they could have got. Inter Milan showed last year you can beat them over two legs as it’s not guaranteed that the best team with the best players will win.
“But it must be difficult to stop them playing, every one of them is good in possession and the movement is fantastic. It can be done but you need a great deal of resolve. Arsene Wenger won’t change his philosophy of playing, but he might alter his formation.
“The truth is that nobody plays the Barcelona way better than they do. So if you take them on at their own game, they win. It is the contrasting team that might cause them problems, as Inter did last year.”
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I think if we offered Barca..£50m + Paddy McCourt and Niall McGinn….Barca would bite our hand off….
I’d rather you whispered that insulting deal to The Green Brigade than me Mike…
this the same kenny who thought raphael was a steal at 6 million ?
They’d have to offer us £50m plus messi for paddy McCourt! And that would be a snip!
mike you dont no what your talking about so your trying to say celtic would offer 50 mil plus paddy and niall they would take it look at it this way paddy would be worth 6 to 8 mil and niall would be worth 2 to 3 mil celtic would have to offer 100mil plus both of them and celtic would never buy a player above 5 mil never mind so stop talking crap and get behind celtic for the match on sunday hail hail
Obviously joey has a cracker sense of humour!
Pat…he’s just crackers…IMO…
I heard that Paddy McCourt IS Messi. He just turns up at parkhead once in a while with a bit of stubble and some dye in his hair and gets a run out and sends out a rumour the rest of the time that he’s got some kind of weird injury. Has anyone seen them in the same place at the same time?