Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: Mike Field 
Date:Thursday May 8 2008
Time: 2:51PM
UK time is: 08:20:57
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Villa In £20 million Bid For Lionel Messi
Martin O'Neill has confirmed that he is considering making a £20 million bid for Lionel Messi - but he can't guarantee Barcelona wouldn't laugh.
Speaking to journalists to break the news at a news conference that never happened, O'Neill said after some cropping and rejigging of the sentance:
'As we speak we are a million miles away, offering £20m for Lionel Messi.'
So there we have it, Villa are after Lionel Messi and although the initial £20 million bid leaves us miles away, as we all know, when at distance the longer you go the closer you get.
Or something like that anyway.
In other news Benitez wants £15 million for Crouch, so it shows £20 million is more than fair for Messi, given the fact Liverpool think Barry is worth only £10 million.
You assume the extra £5 million is for the height difference between Barry and Crouch.
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Your Comments
This will be on newsnow within the hour.
steako
I was wrong, it took 5 mins.
steako
haha, quality
johnnyuk
I laughed when we were rumored to bid 80m for him, so I have to laught at this one. LOL! :)
Fan of Blues
I know this is tongue-in-cheek, but the idea of this is laughable. Isn't there a £97m-something release clause in his Barca contract, anyway...?
HenryW15
Is this funny? Hmm................
young_jonah
I don't find this funny considering the fact tottenham are after Eto'o, except realistically. I see we are linked with 2 Leicester City defenders today. We go after players from defenses that are being relegated from the championship - and tottenham go after 35m rated Strikers from Barcelona. This is disturbing.
los_angeles_villan
Judge Mr O'Neill on his actions, not the meanderings of bored journalists.
evoflash
I'd just like to point out at this point that Spurs have also been linked with those 2 Leicester defenders. Seeing as that seems to be how you are judging our transfer dealings, does this information make you feel better?
Carlosio
Also Leicester(believe it or not) had avery good defensive record....it was that fact they could not score that lead to them being relegated ...along with the fact they had three managers in a season and three the season before I think
fatloser
Still better than us in cup competitions though :0(
Villan Of The North
Silly story. Everyone knows that Messi is a family man and won't live far from his Gran who in turn refuses to leave Barcelona because of the nightlife. Hopefully we will be spending that sort of money on someone or two though.
Villan444
10m for Barry is a disgrace, cheapskates - they value Carson at 10m!
tarzan
Just to remind people who seem to be taking this seriously, the lines:
"Speaking to journalists to break the news at a news conference that never happened, O'Neill said after some cropping and rejigging of the sentance:"
Should give the game away as to the validity of the story.
It was a joke pre-empting what wouild likely be on the net tomorrow once 'bored journalists' picked up and spun MON's comments.
mike_field
i'm not stupid. I know this story was a joke. anyone else want to make a sarcastic comment?
los_angeles_villan
Erm - considering it wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, least of all you, stop being so paranoid.
It wasn't a dig - it was clarification for anyone reading mate.
mike_field
alright, my fault then. I just thought you guys were missing my point that granted they may be great defenders - we are after players from the championship and others are after barcelona. We need to be that ambitious. I'm the biggest Mart O'Neil supporter there is. I used to be a big Celtic supporter as well, but I've never seen him bring anyone that was world class and I just question whether or not he can. Besides the great Henrik Larsson.
los_angeles_villan
Anyone hear Bill Howell on talksport tonight? Apparently, he has heard from "sources" within the club that the move for Barry started 5 weeks ago......also, Barry's "impending" move to the land of the missing car stereo's is a positive move for all parties, Villa included!
Phoenix1976
wtf is Bill Howell's problem? Why didn't he reveal the story 5 weeks ago? 10m and if he moves early in the window, the fans won't be happy. they just won't renew their tickets, until we've secured anyone decent. " is a positive move for all parties" - what does that mean?
tarzan
Loooks like Villa have signed 2 Leicester players - Mattock and Stearman for 4m. Barrry will only go if we get 16m plus add ons - the dippers always try to buy on the cheap.
tarzan
Thanks for clearing that up Mike Field, I think many of us were under the illusion that the next big thing (better than ronaldo) was going to leave Barca to play for a team who hope to play in the intertoto. And i would just like to clarify to anyone reading this that i too am being sarcastic.
young_jonah
I'm affraid sarcasism loses it's edge if you need to point it out!!!! As for the Messi story that seems to have whipped up some kind of frenzy on here and MON lack of signing and being linked to 2 defenders from Leicester. Whem are folks going to realise its jsut papper talk nothing more than that. Besides the transfer window does not open until monday. So those who question MON's ability to attract top players Please give him the grace of a 2 week holiday. Oh yeah and dont buy the papers or indeed read them, they creates more fiction than a marvel comic.
gappy65
I think it is you who have missed the point LA. World class?? Like who?? Maybe we should make a bid for Messi, Im sure like Jonah said he is itching to relocate nearer to the bright lights of Broad Street.
What we should be doing is signing younger players (ones who will actually join us) who have the potential to be world class in the future. Seems to me like MON is trying to do this, we have the opportunity to finish 5th this season and I am happy.
Why spu.k loads of money at players on the decline? If Tottenham get Eto you can be sure it will be because they have had to let Berbatov go.
Just to keep you happy though: 'Villa linked to Etokakaronaldinhioatov". There, better?
sick note
This isn't true at all... Mr Fear you've just culled the words you want from MON's press conference. MON was actually just giving an example of Liverpool'a action regarding Barry. "They've offered £10M for him but so what? It's just like me calling Barca offering £20M for Messi - they'd say 'So what'". Putting this down as a real story makes MON and Villa look ridiculous... And we ain't are we!
ljkal
The actual quote in full: “Look, we don’t want to sell and we’re not inviting offers, but this lad is playing for England,” he said.
“It seems people are taking the view that what Liverpool want they will get, but I don’t see that being the case. From what’s gone on, we’re a million miles away. Hypothetically speaking, it would be like me offering £20m for Lionel Messi. Barcelona would say: ‘So what?’
ljkal
Losing the will.....
Villan444
This article has had the desired affect, it has people either believing a bid has been made for Messi or that the papers have made it up. Both wrong this is a story supposed to be funny written by the author of this article. It is not funny, its just a waste of time.
young_jonah
Messi? Who's that? Sounds like a cartoon character. Is Crouch that small fella?
leelindsay
i heard a rumour that there is a lot of point in this discussion, then i awoke to discover it is has the same value as paul daniels' first facial hair left to mature in vinegar.
ric112
I was thinking how stupid it is that things like this actually get picked up by newspapers, then again jurno's may have little to write about and probably have quite a bit of fun just throwing story's like this into sports sections, I bet you would do it too if you had the power. Its funny that there are actually people even on here reading this article that believe it. This is going to be a long and painfull summer.
PTP
I heard from someone close to the club that Messi has told Barca that he wants to play in the premier, preferably not in London, or the northwest, as the clubs in those areas are money obsessed, fancy dans that lack the genuine connection with the local community. The insider also said Messi pointed out that they ( money grubbing gloryhunters) "lack the authenticity that comes with having English players playing for an English team"!
Waldorf
Martin can come out with some real gems when he feels the need. All Hail MON!
glensider
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