Lionel Messi hatched MLS transfer plan with Cesc Fabregas which never came off
Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas ' wives convinced them to move to Major League Soccer together - but the plan never came to fruition.
Messi and Fabregas came through Barcelona 's famed La Masia academy together before the latter left to join Arsenal aged 16. Then, eight years later, they would be reunited at the Catalan club as Fabregas returned from the Premier League in the summer of 2011. Over the next three seasons, Barcelona won five trophies, with Messi and Fabregas playing 123 times together. But in 2014, the latter would again leave the club, joining Chelsea.
Their paths crossed four years later in the Champions League, but they ultimately never played on the same team as each other again. That was confirmed this summer when Fabregas announced his retirement from football, and he has since moved into coaching, taking interim charge of Italian club Como earlier this month.
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However, that was reportedly not the plan. Both wanted to join forces one last time in MLS at the behest of their spouses, but any moves never materialized. Antonela Roccuzzo, who married childhood sweetheart Messi in 2017, and Daniella Semaan, who wedded Fabregas a year later, are close friends, with the couples regularly spending their summers on holiday together.
"At some point, I am sure people will try to convince them to come to the MLS," Spanish journalist Guillem Balague said on CBS. "Basically, Cesc Fabregas wants to go to the MLS. Cesc Fabregas' wife and Messi's wife are very good friends. And they both, the wives, have convinced Cesc and Messi to go to America together. So when that will happen, we don't know yet, because, of course, Cesc is still at Monaco. But it is something that is in the back of the minds of both players."
Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo regularly holiday with Cesc Fabregas and Daniella Semaan (Getty)Messi begrudgingly leaving Barcelona in the summer of 2021 and becoming a free agent seemed like the ideal circumstances to fulfil this ambition. However, Fabregas still had a year remaining on his contract at Ligue 1 club Monaco. And while it was not MLS, they did play in the same league for the 2021-22 season as Messi moved to Paris Saint-Germain. Albeit, Fabregas only played five games for the Monegasque club during that campaign before leaving for Como.
The midfielder played 17 more games in Italy before retiring after a single season. Interestingly, that announcement at the start of July came a fortnight before Messi officially signed for Inter Miami. With former Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba soon following Messi to Miami, Fabregas seemingly would have stood a chance of joining them if he were still playing. Similarly, rumours continue to link Luis Suarez, another of Messi's close friends, with joining the club after the Liverpool striker this summer agreed with Brazilian club Gremio to renegotiate his contract, meaning it now expires next month rather than at the end of 2024.
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