Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola has been puzzled by the rumours claiming his club is interested in signing Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who became the latest legendary free agent player.
Talks for a new contract at the Camp Nou seemed to have broken down for the Argentina international, as the Spanish club found themselves in a financial crisis that prevented the deal from going through, cited by best online casinos.
With the six-time Ballon D’Or winner now without a club, he is now the most sought-after player in the transfer market but, surprisingly, Manchester City, who just broke a British record to sign Jack Grealish, have no plans of signing the Argentine.
Guardiola, who worked with Lionel Messi at Barcelona from 2008 to 2012, spoke on the rumours claiming that he could sign the Argentine for a hopeful reunion.
He said: “We spent £40m on Jack Grealish. We paid £100m and brought in £60m.
“He will wear the No.10 because we were convinced with Grealish and we were convinced Leo would continue at Barcelona, so right now he is not in our thoughts.”
Messi, who is arguably the greatest footballer of all time, pushed for an exit in 2020, which ended up sparking rumours of interest from City. Now, the Argentine forward will be available for free in this summer transfer window following the expiration of his contract with Barcelona.
The Catalan giants were previously hoping to keep the Argentine legend at Camp Nou for another four or five years with a contract extension, but the financial crisis made their effort fall into the gutter.
Guardiola continued via best online slots real money: “It looked like it finished well in terms of him continuing with Barcelona. It was a surprise for everyone – me included.
“The president was clear today. I didn’t speak with the player or the president so I don’t know what has happened but as a supporter of the club I would love for him to have finished there, but today the club needs to be sustainable and what happened in the last year was really not good.
“As a fan, I have incredible gratitude for the most extraordinary player I have seen in my life, for the titles he helped to [win for] Barcelona, to help me personally to go to Munich and then to England.
“More than that, the incredible amount of feelings and actions in front of the TV and watching what he can do with the ball, with his mates in one football game.
“Day by day, game by game, every three days he made something unique. All I can say is thank you so much for bringing Barcelona to another level, to allow Barcelona to dominate the world for a decade, and I wish him the best for the last few years of his career.
“He will not be forgotten. Hopefully one day we can say the best ever because he deserves it.
“If president Laporta arrives in this situation, he should do it unfortunately because someone before didn’t do well.”
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