Galatasaray president Dursun Özbek claimed that his club’s financial structure would allow for the sensational arrival of Lionel Messi this winter without definitively backing this proposed move.
Spurious rumors linking Inter Miami’s captain with a January exit have bubbled away in recent weeks as the end of the MLS season beckons. The prospect of Messi going without any competitive soccer for the best part of two months before the 2026 season starts up again in February has raised some concerns about the 38-year-old’s physical condition coming into June’s World Cup.
After plenty of non-committal statements, Messi has belatedly accepted that he will help Argentina defend their title this summer. The talismanic forward has also penned a new three-year contract with Inter Miami but a short-term loan back to Europe could theoretically be on the table.
Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham infamously adopted this approach while at the LA Galaxy, spending the first six months of 2010 at AC Milan ahead of that summer’s World Cup. Turkish giants Galatasaray have been floated as a potential destination for Messi this winter to keep himself sharp.
What had seemingly emerged as nothing more than fanciful whispers was given an extra layer of credibility by the response from Galatasaray president Özbek. When asked about these rumors at last week’s Bosphorus Sports Summit, the 76-year-old said: “Did you say Messi?
“Galatasaray’s most successful point is the transfers it has made. We didn’t make too many transfers, but we made the transfers we needed, we kept the team. We kept the backbone of the team that became champion three years in a row, especially the whole team.
“I believe we built a successful team with transfers. We raised the bar very high. We made the highest transfer in the history of Turkish football. Galatasaray's economic level is suitable for these transfers. We have raised the level of success to a high level, so you can easily ask the Messi question.”
Gala top their domestic league and are vying for a spot in the top eight of the Champions League’s league phase table. The dominant outfit showed off the financial heft of which Özbek is so proud by signing Victor Osimhen for a record-shattering €75 million ($86.8 million) this summer.
“While doing all this, we have achieved a good financial situation and we are not doing anything that will disrupt this,” Özbek added. “All the work we do, all of it has to stay within our financial capacity. That’s why we have built a good team and hopefully we have goals in Europe. We will do whatever it takes to reach these goals.”
Will Lionel Messi Join Galatasaray?
For all of Özbek’s bluster, there appears to be little actual reality to the idea of Messi rocking up in Istanbul this winter. Fabrizio Romano had to stifle his sniggering while dismissing the rumors as “nothing really serious.”
The prevailing theory has it that Messi is fully focused on Inter Miami. The Argentine explained his decision to sign a new contract with the club chiefly because his family felt so settled—something which was not the case at Paris Saint-Germain, where he didn’t quite hit the heights of years gone by.
The idea that Messi, a figure who cherishes his life off the pitch so deeply, would uproot it all for four months in the Süper Lig, is fanciful. And that’s before even taking into consideration Inter Miami’s view of any offer. It’s hard to imagine the club would let its golden goose descend into the volatile realm of Turkish top-flight soccer.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lionel Messi’s Return to Europe Floated by Club President.
