Lionel Messi must have been delighted when Cristiano Ronaldo finally upped sticks and moved to Juventus. Probably spent the evening dancing around his kitchen to his favourite Oasis album (Definitely Maybe) and knocking back Innocent smoothies with gay abandon.

But recently this elation has been replaced by a bizarre and totally unexpected sensation: he actually misses Cristiano.

Lionel should be happy. There’s no one else to hog the El Clasico limelight; no one breathing down his neck in the La Liga scoring charts; no one constantly making him feeling inadequate about the firmness of his pecs.

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But where there should be relief, there is only a feeling of emptiness. Without his nemesis attempting to foil him at every turn, what is Lionel’s purpose in life? What does he have left to get excited about? There’s only one thing for it – he’s going to have to move to Serie A.

This, at least, is the thought process that Inter Milan are reportedly hoping will be taking place in the Argentine superstar’s head right now. Italian paper Tuttosport claims Inter are plotting an audacious move to lure Messi from Barcelona to the San Siro, where he would be able to resume his rivalry with the man they call CR7.

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The money for the deal, and there would certainly need to be a lot of it, would apparently come from Suning, Inter’s Chinese owners, although the transfer might not happen this summer and we may have to wait a year for the next chapter of Messi v Ronaldo. Maybe “a break” would be good for them.

Juventus want Paul Pogba

In more mega-transfer news out of Italy, the Express says Juventus are trying to bring Manchester United’s Paul Pogba back to the club.

The perennial Serie A champions are allegedly trying to offload Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic, who has been linked with Manchester City, Chelsea and Barcelona, so that they can sign Pogba as his replacement.

Pogba is believed to be keen on a return to Turin, especially with the aforementioned Ronaldo now a potential teammate, but Juve will not be in a position to sign the Frenchman unless Pjanic leaves. Surely reason enough for Man City to make a bid for the Bosnian.

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Meanwhile, another French legend could be on the verge of a slightly less glamorous move. The Star says Belgium coach Thierry Henry has “verbally agreed” to take over from Steve Bruce as manager of struggling Aston Villa. In purely aesthetic terms, this would go down as the most dramatic managerial switch in the history of sports.

Elsewhere, Chelsea are close to signing 35-year-old Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina from AC Milan for £9m (Sun), the Blues are competing with Arsenal and Man Utd to sign Rennes’ £50m-rated Senegalese forward Ismaila Sarr (Mirror) and Liverpool have put a £27m price tag on Divock Origi amid interest from Spanish side Sevilla (Liverpool Echo). Might sound ridiculous, but it’s less than the Reds got for Christian Benteke.