Tottenham 'make shock offer to Lionel Messi' as Argentine leaves Barcelona this summer

Tottenham have made a shock offer to Lionel Messi following his departure from Barcelona, according to reports in South America.

The 34-year-old Barca legend said an emotional goodbye to the club on Sunday after 21 trophy-laden years at the Camp Nou, with PSG the frontrunners for his signature.

Yet a number of different clubs have sounded out the possibility of signing the Argentine with Spurs one such interested party, according to ESPN in South America as reported by The Express.

The report details that it is unclear whether Spurs were realistically looking to sign Messi or if they were just 'exploring the finances involved' in any potential deal.

Tottenham are currently in a battle to keep star player Harry Kane, who wants to leave the club and Premier League champions Manchester City interested in the England captain.

Atletico Madrid were another club looking at the possibility of a deal for Messi, but all indications suggest a move to PSG is in the pipeline.

That being said, lawyers at the Spanish club have filed a complaint to the European Court of Appeals, stating the Parisians should be stopped in their pursuit of Messi based on financial data.

Juan Branco confirmed the complaint on Twitter on Sunday night by tweeting a statement that read: 'On behalf of FC Barcelona partners, my firm has prepared a complaint with the European Commission and demands for provisional suspension before civil and administrative courts in France to prevent Paris-Saint Germain from signing Lionel Messi.

'PSG's ratios in terms of "Financial Fair Play" are worse than those of FC Barcelona.

'In 2019-2020, PSG's salary-to-income ratio was 99%, while Barcelona's was 54%. Meanwhile, the difference has increased.

'It is inconceivable that the "Financial Fair Play" serves to aggravate the drifts of football-business, the instrumentalization of football by sovereign powers, and the distortion of competitions.'

The report claims PSG will fall foul of FFP with the signing of Messi, and reveals that Barcelona couldn't renew the star's contract because even after a 50 per cent pay cut, the club's wage bill would be 110 per cent of cap, according to Marca.

It also reportedly pointed at the Ligue 1 side's active summer this year, with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi and Georginio Wijnaldum all arriving at the Parc de Princes.

They already have the massive wages of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar to shoulder.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who joined Barca as a 13-year-old and leaves having played his part in the capture of 35 trophies, admitted his 'blood ran cold' when it emerged that he was not going to be able to stay after feeling he and president Joan Laporta were close to reaching agreement.

Messi, who also confirmed he had offered to take a 50 per cent pay cut to continue a period of service which brought 672 goals in 778 appearances, said: 'This is what Laporta said right up until the last minute, and because of everything with the league, it suddenly couldn’t happen.

'There’s nothing more to tell. Anything else, I can’t say. What’s clear is that I did everything possible; the club, Laporta, they couldn’t do it because of LaLiga.

'I’ve heard a lot of things said about me, that I didn’t want to continue, but on my behalf, we did everything we could because I wanted to stay.'