Chelsea Should Give Up on the Lionel Messi Pipe Dream

The English know all about unrequited love. William Shakespeare made a career of writing about it, and it's a theme that has been etched into the literary consciousness ever since.

In more recent years, it's something Chelsea have had to get used to themselves.

According to Phil Cadden of the Sun, Roman Abramovich continues to chase the signature of Barcelona's Lionel Messi. In the latest instalment of the Russian's pursuit of an unattainable love interest, this week saw him meet with Messi's father, Jorge, on his yacht to discuss a potential deal after the player's conviction for tax fraud.

The report says that Abramovich is attempting to put Chelsea first in line should Messi make good on the rumours that he is becoming disenchanted with life in Spain and may well opt to move on.

Were that to happen, the talk is that it would mean Chelsea breaking the £100 million mark in order to bring Messi to west London.

That suggested transfer fee is as ridiculous as Chelsea's continued pursuit of Messi. It's an obscene amount of money to fund what is nothing more than a vanity project for Abramovich.

Indeed, it's no different to the Chelsea owner's desire to sign Andrei Shevchenko over a decade ago. When that deal eventually happened and Shevchenko moved from AC Milan to Chelsea, Abramovich was left with egg on his face, counting the cost of a £30 million failure.

It didn't work out then and it would be the same for Messi now.

We've been here too often and still Chelsea haven't learned their lesson. Signing these superstars is quite one thing; making them fit into a successful system that is worth the investment quite another.

Aside from Shevchenko's physical problems when he arrived at Stamford Bridge, the Ukrainian wasn't suited to how Jose Mourinho had set Chelsea up in his first two seasons. The Portuguese's style of play was all about power, with Didier Drogba at the tip of it as the lone striker.

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Because he was Shevchenko and had cost £30 million—a significant fee for a player 10 years ago—Mourinho had to adapt to him and his strengths, not the team's. It was at that moment when Chelsea's brief dominance of the Premier League started to falter.

That season Manchester United got their hands back on the title again and Mourinho was gone soon after, sacked as the Chelsea boss. Shevchenko remained and proved a headache for successive managers who attempted to make it work yet couldn't.

When Fernando Torres arrived for £50 million in January 2011, Carlo Ancelotti had the same problem. Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, Rafa Benitez and Mourinho all inherited it further down the line.

Now Abramovich is seemingly trying to give Antonio Conte that same headache—as if he doesn't have a big enough one already after inheriting a group of players that failed miserably last season.

That aside, Conte has shown that his team ethic isn't about massaging the egos of stars. He restored Juventus on that principle and Italy's form at Euro 2016 wasn't about star players; their success came from unfancied names uniting to form a formidable unit. In the process, the Azzurri defeated Spain and Belgium—teams complete with stars.

Chelsea don't need to be spending north of £100 million on Messi; that sort of investment should be made to restore the squad to its former glories.

It sounds like a crazy statement to make. After all, the Argentinian will go down as one of the finest footballers in the history of the game; he's a player who has defined his generation and achieved so much in his career. He's an incredible talent.

How do you even reject the notion of signing him? Because needs must and Messi doesn't fit the bill.

Chelsea don't need superstars. Conte's task at Stamford Bridge isn't to make the marketing department's job an easy one; he needs to be making Chelsea harder to beat.

Chelsea's problems are in defence and midfield. The Blues are starting pre-season with just one recognised central defender available as outside of 35-year-old John Terry, Gary Cahill remains on holiday after Euro 2016 and Kurt Zouma is injured.

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It's not just about reinforcements, Conte needs to unearth Terry's long-term replacement and add some stability at the back. Rebuilding a back line costs money; the sort of cash Abramovich is apparently wanting to spend on Messi.

Further forward in midfield, there are equally significant problems. Nemanja Matic's future is unclear and Chelsea's other defensive midfielder is John Obi Mikel. It's not exactly a combination to intimidate opponents and Conte knows it. It's for that reason the Blues have been linked with any central midfielder who has a good performance in the past 12 months.

The thought of Messi in a Chelsea shirt is an enticing one. This isn't fantasy football, though; it's real and the sooner Chelsea accept where the faults are with their playing personnel, the sooner they can get back on the road to recovery.

Things are that drastic at Chelsea right now, it's going to take much more than Messi to set them right.

Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes