Several clubs are on ‘standby alert’, including Manchester City regarding Lionel Messi’s future at FC Barcelona. We have the latest news and the reasons why Premier League fans should remain optimistic about seeing the greatest player of his generation gracing a pitch near you.
Prior to the start of this season Pep Guardiola appeared in front of thousands of City fans and spoke, in brief about whether Messi would ever become a City player. This is how he handled a question when a Blue shouts out, ‘ARE YOU GOING TO BUY MESSI?’
Goalposts have moves since the summer?
Earlier today a well known and respected Spanish newspaper, Marca published an interesting article about Lionel Messi’s future and why the 29-year-old had declined to sign a new FC Barcelona contract offer.
Before we get to the feature lets explain Mara’s credentials.
MARCA is a Spanish national daily sport newspaper owned by Unidad Editorial. The newspaper focuses primarily on football, in particular the day-to-day activities of Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Rayo Vallecano. It has a daily readership of over 2,500,000, the highest in Spain for a daily newspaper, and more than half of sports readership.
Since February 2001 there has also been an associated 24-hour/day sports radio station, Radio Marca.
Back to Messi
The said newspaper began their article stating Messi had decided in July (2016) not to renew his contract with Barcelona, but wait until the end of the year before making his final decision. The author, Carlos Carpio goes into detail about Messi’s reasoning, the way the club handled his so-called tax discrepancies and so on.
Their final paragraph reads…
‘Right now, only Messi knows if he’ll renew his contract in January or if he’ll wait until his contract runs out in 2018 before coming to a decision on his future. It is one that could mean continuing his playing days in Barcelona, where he’s been since the age of 13, or if he’ll embark on an entirely new adventure altogether, like the Premier League perhaps.’
Their exclusive story can be found here.
Why Man City be better placed than any other?
If Pep Guardiola wants Lionel Messi in his team, Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano, Global Technical Director, Rodolfo Borrell and Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain all agree they want Messi at Manchester City then, having all had direct contact with Messi for years during their time at Barcelona then I can’t think of any other club in a better position to pull off the deal of the century.
There is one thing I’ve missed and that is, does Lionel fancy a new challenge? I mean he’s won everything there is to win and so a change of scenery might do him and his family, a world of good. As the saying goes, ‘the balls in his court’.
Latest betting regarding Messi’s future
The bookies have 1/19 Messi will sign a new Barca contract. Chelsea are favourites to capture Lionel’s signature, should he decided to leave – 7/2, while Manchester City are 25/1 to capture his services.
Do you foresee Messi leaving Barcelona, a club he’s been with since he was a kid and if he did, where do you think he would go?
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