Messi To Leave PSG: Three Reasons Why Manchester United Should Try To Sign Him

Lionel Messi and PSG do not look like a happy couple and multiple sources are strongly reporting that the World Cup winner will be parting ways with the Ligue 1 side in a few weeks once the summer window opens up.

While several names are doing the rounds, Manchester United may be the outfit who have a lot of reasons to sign the former Barcelona superstar. Here are just three of them:

1. Marcus Rashford in the middle

Such is Messi’s possible impact that his arrival could transform the future of United’s own superstar in the making – Marcus Rashford. The English forward has thrived in numerous roles in his best goalscoring season yet but Erik ten Hag has been forced to deploy him in the middle of the attack when the absence of squad depth has demanded it.

As such, Messi’s arrival could liberate Rashford from flank duty and the Red Devils could truly get a taste of him at no.9. In fact, many have argued that this is Rashford’s best spot. Functioning as a striker, the 25-year-old could solve the club’s main woe of hunting for a centre-forward. With the money spent on convincing Messi to move to Old Trafford and the sheer complicated nature of the Harry Kane saga, this could be a wise financial choice.

Further, Messi since the last decade or so has been a massive boost to whichever forward he has been complemented with and Rashford can easily join the elite scoring ranks of Luiz Suarez and Kylian Mbappe in this regard.

2. Less pressure and more experience for Antony

Currently both player and manager are beginning to feel the heat about Antony’s development at Manchester, especially due to his price-tag. While pouring money to salvage money already spent appears counter-intuitive, one cannot deny that Messi at RW would be the definition of a world-class upgrade.

This will in turn provide the Brazilian with valuable mentorship, a feat Messi showed he excels at in Qatar. The resultant sharing of minutes and the valuable experience Antony gains working with the GOAT is bound to shape his game in a tremendous fashion.

Taking just the example of Antony’s predictable finishing, a feature he has been criticized over repeatedly this campaign, one can just imagine how the finesse of the Argentine forward could help the former sharper his overall game and bury more chances.

3. Creative force

While most present supporters of Messi associate him with goals, the 2012 calendar year boasting a seemingly unassailable tally of 91, as of recent the maestro is more renowned for his ability to create chances and provide firm assists. The numbers speak the full truth in that regard as Messi presently boasts the second-highest number of assists in Europe’s top five leagues.

If United are to catch-up to Pep Guardiola’s goal-mania at Manchester City, more than finding a scorer like Haaland, they need to match Kevin de Bruyne’s creative prowess and Messi is the only possible man for that precarious task. More vitally, Bruno Fernandes’ responsibility will be eased further, resulting in less fatigue for the Portuguese star wherein his goal-scoring ability could be tweaked instead.

Further, a Messi-like presence will work better in ten Hag achieving the Guardiola model of having multiple “staring XIs” based on the requirement and contextual needs.

 

To put it simply, the Cristiano Ronaldo saga must have put a sour taste in most Red Devils and the prospect of signing another superstar on a massive wage package may be more worrying than exciting. But both commercially and tactically, Messi makes complete sense and ten Hag may just go ahead and put in that tempting transfer request.