Could Manchester City make a move for Lionel Messi?
After Lionel Messi, in my view the greatest to ever play football, took a direct shot at Barcelona Sporting Director Eric Abidal, rumors of a reunion with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City are once again in the news.
Messi’s problems with Abidal have stemmed from Barcelona’s sacking of Ernesto Valverde. After Abidal, Messi’s former teammate and current sporting director at the Catalan club, claimed that many of Barcelona’s squad had quit on Valverde and that he had lost the dressing room, Messi refuted this on social media and asked him to name which players felt this way.
Such a defiant statement is highly unusual and out of character for Messi, who tends to keep out of the news, but according to reports, should he decide to leave the Camp Nou, Manchester City and a reunion with former boss Pep Guardiola would be his preferred option.
The Argentinian forward reportedly has a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave the club at the end of the season on a free transfer, and he has been constantly linked to the Etihad since Guardiola took charge in Manchester.
City’s top decision makers, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, also have Barcelona roots, and Sergio Agüero, the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, is one of Messi’s best friends. Although there is far from anything concrete yet, the door remains open for what would be the biggest and most impactful transfer in the sport’s history.
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Messi could transform City, even aged 32, into a superpower of historic proportions, and I have no doubts that he would excel in Guardiola’s evolved system in the Premier League. Although I am far from confident that a move like this could really happen, things are beginning to stir and there is clearly tension within the Messi/Barcelona relationship for perhaps the first time in his 19-year tenure at the club. If these reports are true, and he does move on, City should to everything necessary to secure the world’s best player, who would simply put them on another level.