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LA Galaxy manager Guillermo Barros Schelotto denied a report that he had inquired about bringing Barcelona star Lionel Messi to Major League Soccer last December, but said “we have a relationship with him that opens the door.”
A Radio Continental report early this week claimed that Schelotto reached out to Messi’s father, Jorge, last year to see if there were any possibility of making a move to MLS after the club lost Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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“Absolutely not,” the Argentine coach said when asked whether talks with Messi had taken place. “Obviously, we would love to [sign him] and the fact that we have a relationship with him opens the door, but we have never had any contact with him about it.”
On Thursday, Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo published an interview with Messi, in which the Argentina forward denied any unhappiness with the Catalan club, although it has been fairly well documented that things have not been going smoothly between Barcelona and Messi recently.
Two weeks ago an outburst on Instagram raised the possibility of his leaving the club.
Messi’s contract reportedly features an exit clause that allows him to leave at the end of each season, which would leave him free to join the Galaxy — or any other club — this summer.
LA already have three designated players in Javier Hernandez, Cristian Pavon and Jonathan dos Santos, which means the five-time MLS Cup champions would have to find a creative way to fit Messi under the league’s salary cap.
ESPN Argentina reports that the Galaxy want to make Pavon’s loan move from Boca Juniors permanent in a deal worth around $20 million.