Many people think billionaires simply buy people, but for owners of sports teams, buying people is kosher. That is, buying players. Chelsea football team owner and Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, lost a fortune with falling oil prices and the tumbling ruble, but he is still being urged to buy top players.
Chelsea coach, Jose Mourinho regrets that Abramovich didn’t buy Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard way back in 2005. Mourinho told tribalfootball.com, “I was dreaming of Claude Makelele, Gerrard and Frank Lampard. We were playing in an open triangle without a No. 10, we were playing with Maka in front of the defenders, and me and Mr. Abramovich and Peter Kenyon were dreaming that. We did everything. It was almost there. But the decision for me was proven right, because he will always be a red forever. Gerrard’s people were open to it, and the feeling to join a top side like Chelsea, I think the feeling was there, but to me personally, he never said, ‘I will go.”
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Currently, there has been talk of Chelsea buying Argentinian mega star Lionel Messi from Barcelona, where he seems to be unhappy. The price tag for Messi would be around $300 million, but according to SportsKeeda, “It will be a cold day in hell before the Catalan Giants would consider selling one of the greatest players the world has ever seen–one who is regarded entirely as one of their owns.” In other words, it would be messy.
