Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague was recently a guest on the BBC’s Football Daily podcast and has revealed that Lionel Messi almost joined Manchester City previously.
The Argentine superstar recently informed Barcelona that he no longer wishes to remain at the Camp Nou and is looking to exercise a clause in his contract that would allow him to walk away from the club for free. Due to the recent global pandemic, the deadline by which he would have needed to make his intentions clear has passed but the player’s team believe it should be honoured as the season had to be extended (as per Sky Sports).
Manchester City, coached by Messi’s former boss Pep Guardiola have been mentioned as a potential destination for the 33-year-old and Balague has revealed a move was on the cards some years ago. He said:
“From the moment he [Pep Guardiola] arrived, he has tried to convince Jorge Messi and Leo Messi to come to Manchester City. In fact, they were very, very close in 2016, when at the beginning of the summer Messi said: ‘I’m leaving, I don’t want to be here any more.’ He felt persecuted by the Spanish media, by the taxman, things weren’t going well. So Jorge, his dad, knowing him, he said ‘okay, I’ll do my job’, so he spoke to certain clubs and put everything in place for Leo Messi to go to Manchester City.
“In the first training session of the following season, Messi was picked up by Luis Suarez, they went to training, he had fun. At the end of it, Jorge Messi rang Leo and said: ‘Leo what do we do?’ [and he replied] ‘oh no, forget about it’ and that’s it.”
Will Messi end up at Manchester City?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Based on the stance he appears to be taking, it is clear that Lionel Messi may be looking for another challenge and taking into account that according to Ballague, he considered a move to the Etihad Stadium previously if he is able to force a move away from Catalonia, Manchester may be his preferred destination.