Guardiola talks to Messi, wants striker to play for Manchester City
Aug 26, 2020
Manchester [UK], Aug 26 : Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has held talks with Argentine striker Lionel Messi in order to bring him on board the English club.
This revelation comes a day after Messi shocked Barcelona by asking the club to let him leave.
Guardiola is looking to sign the 33-year-old Messi and this could very well be possible as City has the financial capacity to make this happen, Goal.com reported.
Messi and Guardiola have worked together earlier at Barcelona.
As per a report in Goal.com, Messi had asked Barcelona to activate a clause in his contract which will allow him to leave for free. Messi's contract with Barcelona is currently up to 2021.
However, there has been no firm offer from City till now and a deal with the striker would be complex given the financial details involved in such a transfer.
Manchester United, Inter Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain are the few clubs which have shown an interest in Messi, Goal.com reported.
Messi has spent his entire career with Barcelona and has managed to win Ballon d'Or six times.
Over the past few days, serious speculation was doing the rounds about Messi's future with Barcelona.
Barcelona was handed an 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final, and since then, the club has been facing a crisis.
Head coach Quique Setien and technical manager Eric Abidal have already departed and Ronald Koeman was appointed the new coach of Barcelona.
Barcelona had to endure a trophy-less 2019-20 campaign. The side had finished at the second place, behind Real Madrid in La Liga standings for the 2019-20 season.
Setien was the second Barcelona head coach to be sacked this year. Setien had replaced Ernesto Valverde, with the latter being sacked following a loss to Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana despite being at the top of La Liga at the time.
Setien recorded 16 wins, four draws, and five defeats during his time with Barcelona.
