They say that one swallow doesn’t make a summer.
But if we see Messi to Manchester City, one of the most sensational signings ever, it’s difficult to imagine anyone else enjoying the fruits of their labours come next spring.
Somewhat surprisingly seeing as they finished a huge 18 points behind eventual champions Liverpool, City are currently odds-on favourites to win their third title in four years in 2021.
So add-in one of the most prolific strikers and arguably the greatest player ever into the mix and you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was all over bar the shouting.
Magic Numbers
The boy from Rosario, Argentina moved to Barcelona’s La Masia academy at the age of 13.
Since then he’s become one of the game’s greatest ever players, scoring over 700 goals in just under two decades at Camp Nou.
Between 2009/10 and 2018/19, he scored more than 40 goals each campaign.
That means that over a ten season span, he scored an astonishing 523 goals, at an average of over 50 a season.
In 2012, he fired in an incredible 91 goals for club and country, doing it in just 69 matches – that’s roughly a goal every 68 minutes.
His 444 league goals also makes the six-time Ballon d‘Or winner the Spanish top flight’s all-time leading goal scorer.
That’s a figure that puts him some way ahead of Ronaldo in second on 311 and Telmo Zarra third with 251.
He also holds the record as La Liga’s top assist provider ever with 183 – what a mouth-watering prospect considering City’s love for attacking football.
But before Blues fans get too carried away, Messi to Manchester City isn’t guaranteed to work. History has several high profile examples to prove it.
Fernando Flops as Torres joins Chelsea
When he signed for Chelsea in a British record deal on transfer deadline day in January 2011, no one could possibly have imagined the extent of Torres’s demise.
The Spaniard scored goals for fun at Anfield, quickly becoming one of the most potent marksmen in the Premier League.
He found the net an astonishing 82 times in 141 games over just four seasons – including 33 goals in 46 games in his first season with the Reds.
In stark contrast the £40-million man scored just 45 times in 172 appearances for Chelsea, with a total of eight Premier League goals being his best return in the 2012/13 campaign.
In the three full seasons that Fernando Torres was at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea finished sixth, third and third again.
But maybe it’s telling that after he returned to Spain to join Atletico Madrid, Chelsea won the Premier League that year and then again two seasons later.
United they stood, divided they departed
To say Manchester United struggled in the years following Alex Ferguson’s departure would be something of an understatement.
A number of high-profile managers arrived at Old Trafford amid much anticipation only to leave with the club seemingly no better off than they were before.
But it’s not just gaffers who have come and gone at the 20-time English champions.
Plenty of top name signings have also brought with them high hopes and expectations only to depart the shadow of their former selves.
Take Angel Di Maria, who shone at Real Madrid and his final game for them was a Man-of-the-Match display in the Champions League final against Atletico.
But he couldn’t adjust to life at Old Trafford having been signed by Louis Van Gaal for a then record fee of £60 million.
The 32-year-old lasted just one season at United, scoring three goals in 27 games, before he was written off as yet another costly transfer mistake in the post Ferguson era.
Add the likes of Radamel Falcao, Memphis Depay, Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku and you have a pretty comprehensive list of expensive flops who have failed to deliver.
Just a few sorry examples of the dangers when it comes to backing a team to win the title based on a pre-season super-signing.
If we do see Messi to Manchester City you can only assume that this will be reflected in the market – though remember, City were odds on to take the title last year and fell well short.
That’s why it’s often better to bide your time. The transfer window is open until October this season and you can be sure it won’t just be Guardiola looking to strengthen.
Factor-in a campaign that only finished a month ago, a limited pre-season and a Nations League double-header and it might be best to hold fire.
It Takes Two, Baby
To compare the likes of Fernando Torres and Angel Di Maria to quite possibly the greatest player there has ever been is as unfair as it is foolish.
However, the risk remains just as high when the future is so uncertain and the stakes are so high.
Yes, under Pep Guardiola between 2008 and 12 the Argentinian produced some of the most scintillating form of his career.
That’s why a reunion would surely have the Blue half of Manchester talking about what his arrival could herald for the club.
The opportunity of Lionel Messi linking-up with Kevin De Bruyne would also have any City regular salivating merely at the thought.
But these are different times, which is why the fact that City are such short favourites to regain the Premier League are so surprising.
Especially as we’ve just spent the last year watching Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool win the title at a canter.
This is a side without David Silva, a team that has lost Vincent Kompany, while Fernandinho is now 35.
Meanwhile, Sergio Agüero in the twilight of his career with Gabriel Jesus yet to convince anyone that he has what it takes to replace the club’s record scorer.
Then there’s the English style of play.
Would and could Lionel Messi thrive in the more frenetic and muscular environment of the Premier League on a weekly basis having only really experienced the more sedate pace of La Liga?
Anyone who witnessed his displays or lack of them at Anfield in the 2019 Champions League semi-final or the mauling at the hands of Munich a few weeks ago might think not.
Indeed, it would be a huge coup and a marketing manager’s dream as the side who have gone from noisy neighbours to top dogs look to avoid a similar slump to their cross-town rivals in the coming years.
You don’t become a bad player overnight, but for a transfer to work it’s like any good marriage.
You need both sides to do their bit and for every Posh and Becks there is a Fernando Torres, Angel Di Maria or Alexis Sanchez.
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