Thursday, August 27, 2020
First to Pep, then to New York?
Messi is probably drawn to his favorite coach
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Lionel Messi is determined to leave FC Barcelona, even if the conditions for a move are still completely unclear. The tendency as to how the six-time world footballer could continue his career is clear.
When he first met Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola was almost a little disappointed. So many people had raved about this highly talented Argentine, who scored so many goals. But what he saw at the first meeting in a sports department store wasn’t a beefy and terrifying attacker. “He was relatively small and shy,” said Guardiola once, “and I just thought to myself: ‘Is the boy really as good as everyone says?'”
He was even better – and Guardiola himself later benefited from that. When the Catalan was promoted to head coach of FC Barcelona in 2008, he immediately bet everything on Messi. “We started the preparation in Scotland back then, we won 6-1 and 5-0. He scored three goals in every game,” Guardiola once told Catalunya Radio: “I knew we would win everything with him . “
Guardiola needs Messi
And that’s how it happened: 14 titles in four years, including two Champions League triumphs. Since Guardiola then regularly failed in the premier class with Bayern Munich and Manchester City, not a few believe that he needs Messi for the big coup. The City team manager should therefore pull out all the stops to lure Messi, who is looking for a new challenge after 20 years at Barça, to Manchester.
According to ESPN, the sheikh club is offering the six-time world footballer a long-term contract: first three years in Manchester, then two years with MLS sister club New York City FC, then ambassador for the empire. The US broadcaster also reported that City would even be willing to pay between 100 and 150 million euros in an emergency if Barcelona insisted on a transfer. Messi’s free transfer clause expired on June 10, but his lawyers point out the special circumstances due to the season interrupted by Corona.
“Reunion could be tempting”
In addition to City, Paris St. Germain and Inter Milan are also traded as potential buyers. All three clubs have enough money for Messi’s lavish annual salary (50 million euros) thanks to their foreign investors – but Manchester’s trump card in poker is in the dugout. “A reunion with Pep Guardiola at City will be tempting for Messi,” said former Barça pro Rivaldo: “Both have at Barça had a great coach-player relationship. “
Messi once called Guardiola “the best of all” coaches. In private, the relationship was less cordial, as Messi once said after Guardiola’s departure from Barcelona: “If we run into each other, we’ll say hello.” Not more. Now both should have a lot more to tell each other, a phone call is said to have taken place last week. Messi had already said in 2018 that he would like to work with the ex-coach again: “Although it’s difficult, I would like to work with Guardiola again. He is one of the best coaches in the world.” At that time, FC Barcelona was not down, a move was out of the question. Well.
Maybe Messi talked about it with his buddy Luis Suarez on Wednesday evening, when they met for dinner in a posh restaurant. It is unlikely that the offensive stars will meet again at Barca’s training start next Monday. Messi is drawn to Guardiola.
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