Messi wanted to leave Barcelona as early as 2020 – and ideally wanted to move to Guardiola. Now a meeting between the two has been revealed.
WHAT HAPPENED? Lionel Messi apparently wanted to move to Manchester City in the summer of 2020 to play under Pep Guardiola again. This emerges from the latest book (“God Save Pep”) by Guardiola biographer Marti Perarnau.
WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND? The Spanish newspaper Sport has published a passage from the book in which it is described that Messi sent a message to his friend and then City striker Sergio Aguero. In it, he explained to his Argentinian compatriot that he wanted to leave Barça because of the disagreements with those in charge of the club.
According to Perarnau, Aguero then passed on Messi’s message to his bosses at City. “Be careful, two things could happen. Leo asked me how long Pep still has a contract with City,” Agüero is said to have communicated.
At that time, Guardiola was on his way to Barcelona from the Champions League final tournament in Lisbon, where City had surprisingly lost to Lyon in the quarter-finals. When the City coach arrived there, he received a message from Messi, who had just lost 8-2 against Bayern with Barça.
“Hello Pep, how are you?” Messi is said to have written to his former coach. As is well known, Guardiola and the Argentine superstar worked together at Barça from 2008 to 2012.
The next day, Messi visited Guardiola at his house. According to Perarnau, Messi explained why he wanted to leave Barcelona, what problems he had with the club’s officials and emphasized that he absolutely wanted to go to City. The conversation probably lasted several hours, and included the following dialogue:
WHAT WAS SAID?
Guardiola: “We train very hard in Manchester.”
Messi: “I’ll train hard, don’t worry.”
Guardiola: “And I still hold long tactics meetings. Maybe you get bored…”
Messi: “I can handle it. I will accept everything you do.”
Guardiola: “Leo, we’ve both gotten older. Maybe we don’t understand each other anymore.”
Messi: “Pep, I just want to do it.”
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? As is well known, Messi wanted to leave Barcelona in the summer of 2020 and hoped to be able to do so through a clause. In order to avoid a legal dispute with the club he loved, he finally gave in and stayed another year.
And in 2021, Messi didn’t leave the Catalans for Manchester, but instead signed with Paris Saint-Germain. After two years there, the 36-year-old has been playing for Inter Miami in the MLS since last summer.
2023-11-29 16:28:46
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