Messi BEGGED Guardiola for Man City move
Robin Bairner
- 30 Nov 2023 08:25 GMT
- 3 min read
Lionel Messi made a sensational attempt to sign for Manchester City, according to a new book.
Messi was attracted to the Premier League club by the presence of Pep Guardiola and in 2020 made a plea to his former Camp Nou mentor to sign him for the Etihad outfit.
The Argentine was playing with Barcelona at the time but would ultimately depart a year later on a free transfer to PSG after his contract expired and could not be renewed.
Messi, though, wanted to hook up with Guardiola in Manchester, fuelled by Barca’s embarrassing collapse to an 8-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League weeks earlier.
Marti Perarnau claims in his book ‘God Save Pep’ that the eight-time Ballon d’Or champion even approached his former coach about making the move.
It is claimed that after Barca’s loss against Bayern, Messi made a visit to Guardiola’s house and complained of feeling “deceived and betrayed” by the management of the Camp Nou side at that point.
What Pep said to Messi
Guardiola and Messi are said to have spoken for several hours, with the No.10 floating the idea of the pair reuniting at Man City.
The manager, though, seemed less than enthused by the prospect.
“At Man City we train very hard, and I still do long tactical discussions. Maybe you’ll get bored,” it is claimed Guardiola told Messi.
The Argentine replied: “I’m going to train hard, I’m not worried about that. I’ll give it everything. I will put up with whatever you do.”
Guardiola then replied: “Leo, we’ve got older. Maybe we can’t stand each other anymore…”
In the event no deal was done, with the report indicating that the player’s estimated release clause of €750 million was too great a stumbling block for anything to be concluded.
Messi instead moved to PSG for a couple of years and is now playing with David Beckham’s Inter Miami side in MLS.
