Messi to City is still a possibility
Lionel Messi, you might have heard, is not entirely happy with life at Barcelona these days.
In an extremely turbulent summer, Barca were humiliated by eventual winners Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a result which was followed by the news their greatest ever player wanted out.
Messi did eventually agree to stay, though only after making it explicitly clear to the rest of the world that he’d rather have moved on and that he didn’t have much time for the way in which the club is being run.
While things do appear to have settled a little bit in recent weeks, Messi wasted little opportunity in taking another shot at the club’s board in his farewell message to Luis Suarez, who moved to Atletico Madrid.
Whether Messi leaves when his contract expires at the end of this season remains to be seen. It could very well hinge on who wins the club’s presidential elections next March. Should he not approve, his most likely destination will be Manchester City, who appeared to be the only club financially capable of taking him had he left in the summer.
A reunion with Pep Guardiola appeared likely at one stage, and it now seems City are preparing another attempt to lure him to the Etihad next summer.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, City’s Chief Operating Officer Omar Berrada has confirmed the club would be able to afford Messi should an opportunity to buy him present itself.
“He’s an amazing talent , he’s somebody that can make a significant impact at any club in the world on and off the pitch immediately,” Berrada is quoted as saying.
“He’s the best player in the world, he’s the best player of his generation. I think any club in the world would like to explore the possibility of him joining their team. The fact that it was commented that he wanted to come to play for City just shows you how far the team has come over the last years where the best talent of his generation and potentially saying he wants to come and play for us.
“It’s hard to guess what could happen. If you think back to those two weeks where everything played out at Barcelona, it’s almost impossible to guess what will happen next summer. Messi is a generational talent, he’s the best player in the world and probably an exception to potential investments that we’d do out of the ordinary but our planning has been done with this current squad and it is being considered with the current opportunities that we have.
“For every single position we have to be prepared because there can be so many things that can happen but at the same time I think we have the financial strength and system ability to make that investment [in a striker] when required.
“That’s what puts us in a position where we feel comfortable that we’ll be able to take the right decision because it also doesn’t mean that we’ll have to rush into anything – first because Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus are performing very well, they are two of the best strikers in the world right now, and when we do decide to bring in potentially someone else, whether it is next season or the one after that then we will be in a financial position to do it for the right price.”
