adidas Wants Lionel Messi to Play for Manchester United

Could it actually happen?

Image via Futbol Arena

It's been a huge week for Lionel Messi. On Monday, he took home the FIFA Ballon d'Or honors for the first time since 2012, marking his fifth Golden Ball win. Now, Messi's making headlines yet again, as adidas has expressed wishes to pull him away from his longtime club, Barcelona, and bring him to Manchester United. 

Following the Three Stripes' recent acknowledgement of Man U's poor play, talk has surfaced that adidas is seriously interesting in bringing Messi on board in hopes of turning the team's performance around. According to Marcasources in the UK are saying adidas is willing to spend big bucks to bring Messi and his former coach Pep Guardiola (who's also sponsored by adidas) to Manchester United.

Although adidas CEO Herbet Hainer's jab at Man U seemed to be in jest, it's pretty clear that the brand isn't messing around when it comes to damage control here. After all, in 2014, adidas came out of pocket to the tune of £750 million to sponsor the team, and now it looks like the Three Stripes is prepared to do whatever it takes to bring the club back to its glory days. There's just one small problem — Messi's locked in with Barcelona until the year 2019.

Stay tuned for ongoing updates, this should be good.