Jase

https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/1781458/2500-tickets-available-for-amex-friendly-on-saturday Nope, this is not a mistake. We'll be playing Brighton away in our first pre-season friendly this Saturday. A small number of fans will be allowed into the stadium - only home fans - as part of the UK government's test pilot event.

Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Chelsea PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2020/21 Pre-Season Friendly 29th August, Saturday 2020 AMEX Stadium 15:00 Kick Off (UK time)

I don't believe that...

New Spurs documentary reveals Jose Mourinho thought Chelsea would ‘s**t themselves’ and bottle top four

Such a contrasting view on that.

Yes, I am aware of that. But Messi is Barcelona and Barcelona is Messi. The idea of Messi being in another team doesn't seem right. Of course, he could very well leave for real or this could well be the ultimate power play. This drama is a long way from the end, I reckon. I don't even know why you had to mention that and all the stats. Is that just an excuse to mention your boy Abraham?

The obsession is kinda funny though.

He didn't...

But from a business and financial perspective, do you really expect Barcelona to just let Messi walk away for free? Besides, this could all easily change if Messi gets what he wants and Bartomeu resigns or is ousted from the club.

This. There's also no guarantee that Messi will leave Barcelona on a free, if he does really leave. There's gonna be a legal battle between him and the board over his contract exit clause. Otherwise his release clause is 700 million euros.

The merchandise sale isn't even going to cover what we would spend on him. Only way to make the signing all worthy is if he leads to the quadruple or at least the treble every season. Moreover, if we spend all that money on Messi, we can probably forget about buying players over the next few years.

A reminder of what Messi will cost...

When people say this deal or that deal seems to have gone quiet etc, do people expect every second, every word, every action, every moment of the people involved to be reported? Chill, be patient...

I don't think the club are concerned about FFP at all especially when it's relaxed this summer because of the pandemic. The problem is, finding someone to take Kepa, be it on loan or just outright buy him. The former is obviously more likely at this point but there does not seem to be any takers.

The implementation of that new loan rule was postponed back in April because of the pandemic and subsequent impact on clubs. https://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2020/04/07/5e8cb41be2704e87598b4573.html Will come into effect when things are back to normal, whenever that will be.

But this is Messi we are talking about. The scale of this one transfer alone is completely different to signing Werner, Havertz, Ziyech etc all in one window. It would also require the club, for example, to completely blow up the wage structure for one player - even if it's the best one in the world - and maybe even set us back in the coming windows in the terms of the budget etc. And as I also said earlier, Messi wants to win the Champions League again. We aren't going to win it anytime soon. So, he isn't going to come here.

That is too much drama for one night...

Don't know why 'Messi to Chelsea' is even a discussion. We aren't going to get him. He isn't going to come here.