Jurgen Klopp Speaks Out on Lionel Messi Transfer Because That's Where We Are Now

It may be time to pack in this whole football thing, because we've come to a point where Lionel Messi to Liverpool is a thing that is being discussed.

Well, not seriously discussed, but discussed to the extent that Jurgen Klopp is being asked about it at press conferences, and that's close enough to the bone.

In case you've been unplugged from matrix for the last week or so, things have really gone to pot in Barcelona. La Blaugrana have hit new lows; after exiting the Champions League in historically humiliating fashion, captain and resident GOAT Messi has asked to leave, and an increasingly ridiculous list of candidates for his signature has been drawn up as a result.

Man City? Inter Miami? Feasible at a stretch. Juventus? Unlikely. Manchester United? You're starting to take the mick.

Liverpool? That's enough, put the bottle down.

The reasons Messi won't be heading to Anfield don't really need listed, and Klopp wasn't getting into the specifics when asked about it ahead of the Community Shield with Arsenal. Per The Athletic's James Pearce, he was as incredulous as the rest of us.

"Messi? No chance!" he said. "The numbers are not for us."

The 'numbers' he's alluding to could be referring to Barcelona's demand for a world record transfer fee, or the fact he would command a salary that comfortably doubles any other Liverpool player, resulting in the immediate collapse of a meticulously crafted and precariously balanced wage structure.

Or the fact that he is now 33. Take your pick; any of the three put him firmly out of the running as a potential Liverpool signing.

Don't let that stop the complaining, however. The 'FSG Out' brigade have come out in full voice, because five trophies in 13 months is the sign of a dying club and all that.

Just...sigh.