Lionel Messi announced last week that he wants to leave Barcelona this summer, after a total of 20 years at the club.
The record six-time Ballon d’Or winner held talks with new Barca boss Ronald Koeman and subsequently revealed his desire to move away from the club.
He wants to leave Barca on a free transfer, citing a clause in his contract that allows him to do so, although the Spanish giants are insisting that he leaves for a set release clause in the region of £630m.
Messi’s admission has, unsurprisingly, put the giants of world football on red alert, with interest from all corners of the globe.
The 33-year-old has been linked with a reunion with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, a move to their inner-city rivals Manchester United, or a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, where he would team up with former teammate Neymar.
One rumour that has really caught the eye, however, links him with Italian champions Juventus, the home of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo and Messi have been embroiled in a battle to be known as the world’s greatest footballer over the past decade, with both well clear of the chasing pack for most of that time.
The Portuguese star, who spent nine years in the same league as Messi during his time at Real Madrid, moved to Juventus in 2018 and has characteristically plundered over 50 goals in his two seasons there.
We’ve seen what the duo can do for their respective clubs over the years, but how potent would they be as teammates?
The team at 90min have placed Messi in Turin on Football Manager 2020 and simulated what his time at the club would look like.
So, Messi and Ronaldo are all set to line up together for ‘Zebre’, the team name used for Juve in-game as FM don’t own the rights to Juventus.
Manager Giampiero Raimondi (designed as a very loose resemblance to Maurizio Sarri, but we’ll pretend he’s Andrea Pirlo) guides Juve to another Serie A title, but they only finish one point ahead of Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan.
They also capture the Coppa Italia, but finish as runners-up in the brilliantly named Coca-Cola Supercup.
The big expectation, though, especially with the two star players on the planet in the side, is the Champions League. Juve, however, fall in the quarter-finals to Manchester United, despite Ronaldo scoring 11 goals.
As for Messi, it’s not as prolific a season as he would have liked, scoring 16 times in the league, along with Ronaldo. The Argentine does, however, record a higher average rating.
The Champions League defeat doesn’t deter Messi from staying on, as he signs an extension until 2022.
The Old Lady inexplicably go on to lose their Serie A crown, with Napoli taking over the mantle. There’s another failure in European competition as well, with Messi and Juve going out to Liverpool at the semi-final stage.
On a personal note, Messi enjoys a fine, if injury-restricted, season. He scores 13 and assists a further 11 in Serie A, notching up an average rating of 8.20. He only adds four goals from 11 appearances in Europe, but records another impressive average rating of 7.82.
Leo does stay at the club for a third crack at the Champions League title, but Juve can’t deliver it as they not only lose in the quarter-final to Bayern Munich, but appear to go trophyless as they are defeated in the Coppa Italia semi-final and fail to recapture Serie A.
Ronaldo shines again in Europe, scoring nine goals, but Messi is generally the better performer in all competitions.
Not the ideal spell for Lionel, then. He’d hope any potential real-life time at the club would go far better.