Indian Premier League 2020: Teams engage in Twitter banter following reports of Lionel Messi’s departure from FC Barcelona
IPL teams have joined thousands of football fans in speculating about Lionel Messi’s future following various reports regarding the Barcelona talisman wanting to leave the Camp Nou.
Kolkata Knight Riders were the first to get the ball rolling when they posted this tweet, asking Messi about donning the Purple and Gold- the colors of their outfits along with an edited photograph of the Argentine wearing the Knight Rider’s jersey.
Mr. #Messi, How about donning the Purple and Gold? https://t.co/oplGLuxpFC pic.twitter.com/QSoJpsRsWi
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) August 26, 2020
KKR’s chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav even replied to his team’s tweet by asking them to get ready to pay $220 million as Messi’s transfer fees.
Get ready to pay $220 million
— Kuldeep yadav (@imkuldeep18) August 26, 2020
Interestingly, Messi has already played in Kolkata when he came there for a friendly game between Argentina and Venezuela in September 2011.
Delhi Capitals were the next to jump on the bandwagon when they posted the following tweet:
ANNOUNCEMENT
In light of recent rumours, Delhi Capitals would like to confirm that a bid for #LionelMessi has not been made.
— Delhi Capitals (Tweeting from ) (@DelhiCapitals) August 26, 2020
The 33-year-old Messi is widely recognized as the Greatest player of all time and has spent his entire career in Barcelona . The little genius has scored an astonishing 634 goals for the Catalan side in 731 games across all competitions.
Speculation has been rife about Messi’s impending departure from the Camp Nou ever since Barca’s horrific 2-8 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals earlier this month.
Barcelona witnessed several high-profile changes following the shameful loss- their biggest in European Competition. Barca sacked coach Quique Setien and Sporting director Eric Abidal. Barcelona legend Ronald Koeman was roped in as the new coach. The presidential elections were also preponed to March 2021.
