{"id":21782,"date":"2026-01-28T01:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/28\/the-contract-that-leo-messi-helped-barcelona-with-during-the-match-if-you-want-to-take-me-i-will-go\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T01:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:55:07","slug":"the-contract-that-leo-messi-helped-barcelona-with-during-the-match-if-you-want-to-take-me-i-will-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/28\/the-contract-that-leo-messi-helped-barcelona-with-during-the-match-if-you-want-to-take-me-i-will-go\/","title":{"rendered":"The &#8220;contract&#8221; that Leo Messi helped Barcelona with during the match: &#8220;If you want to take me, I will go&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ue-c-article--first-letter-highlighted\"><span class=\"capital-letter\">P<\/span>Aurinho revealed that he couldn&#8217;t believe his ears when Lionel Messi approached him during a friendly and casually suggested he move to Barcelona. The midfielder admitted he called his agent immediately after the match because he was so stunned.<\/p>\n<p>He even thought of sending a message to Neymar to see if this story made sense. A month later, his agent finally called and gave him the confirmation he had been waiting for: &#8220;The deal is done. You need to come to Barcelona to sign the papers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">\n<p>How Messi personally secured his contract<\/h2>\n<p>At Barcelona, \u200b\u200bMessi was more than just the face of the club. He was quietly influencing important decisions behind the scenes. His opinion of the new players carries a lot of weight and former Rose midfielder Paulinho has revealed just how far-reaching his influence has been.<\/p>\n<p>During a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina in Australia, Messi walked up to Paulinho after a foul, looked him straight in the eye and asked him an unexpected question: &#8220;So&#8230; are you going to Barcelona or not?&#8221; No context. No explanation. Pure Messi.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">Paulinho&#8217;s short but shocking spell at Barcelona<\/h2>\n<p>Paulinho eventually joined Rose from Guangzhou Evergrande and spent one season in La Liga. Even though his arrival came as a surprise, he put up solid numbers.<\/p>\n<p>However, his time at the club was short-lived and he was not particularly remembered by fans. Still, Paulinho can make a point that few players can. Lionel Messi was the reason for his own transfer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/barcelona\/2026\/01\/27\/6978bffe268e3e522e8b45e0.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAurinho revealed that he couldn&#8217;t believe his ears when Lionel Messi approached him during a friendly and casually suggested he move to Barcelona. The midfielder admitted he called his agent immediately after the match because he was so stunned. He even thought of sending a message to Neymar to see if this story made sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The &quot;contract&quot; that Leo Messi helped Barcelona with during the match: &quot;If you want to take me, I will go&quot; - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/28\/the-contract-that-leo-messi-helped-barcelona-with-during-the-match-if-you-want-to-take-me-i-will-go\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The &quot;contract&quot; that Leo Messi helped Barcelona with during the match: &quot;If you want to take me, I will go&quot; - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PAurinho revealed that he couldn&#8217;t believe his ears when Lionel Messi approached him during a friendly and casually suggested he move to Barcelona. 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