Zabaleta: Barcelona should sign Aguero to convince Messi to stay

Emmet Gates

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 3 min read

Barcelona should sign Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero this summer in order to convince Lionel Messi to stay at the club, claims former Argentina international and Man City right-back Pablo Zabaleta.

The contracts of the two players are due to expire at the end of the current campaign, and Messi has been repeatedly linked with a move to the English side in order to reunite with Pep Guardiola.

Messi made it abundantly clear that he felt his time at the club was up last summer, but was denied a move due to legality issues in his contract.

Since then, Joan Laporta has been elected president of the club for a second time, and has vowed to keep Messi at the club.

Aguero’s contract at the Etihad Stadium runs out this summer, and is expected to move on after a decade at the club.

Zabaleta, who played with Aguero at City and Messi at international level, says that the Spanish giants should attempt to sign Aguero in order to entice Messi into staying in Catalonia.

‘To keep Messi bring Aguero to Barcelona’

“Messi is in his last year of contract. There were elections last Sunday and a new president; all he [Joan Laporta] wants is to convince Messi to stay,” said Zabaleta to YouTube channel Forever Blue.

“One of the reasons to keep Messi is to bring Sergio [Aguero] to Barcelona. A few weeks ago, it was Messi to Man City because Sergio was there and it could be good for Messi to be reunited and to work with people he knows from Barcelona before.

“It’s very difficult, there’s a lot of media speculation. Sometimes when people ask me about what I think about these situations, I just try to think about what could be the best option for one of them, if they make a decision.

“We all need to respect and accept the decisions that they make at the end of the season, even for Lionel Messi – he’s spent his whole life at Barcelona, it would be very strange to see Lionel Messi leave Barca. We all expect him to stay and never leave Barca.

“Nobody expected Barca to go into administration and to have problems with payments or big problems off the field that could make Messi want to leave the club.”

Messi has scored 19 goals in 24 games in La Liga this term. Aguero meanwhile has netted no goals in only seven appearances in the Premier League.