08/26/2020 - 17:49
- Clarín.com
- sports
These are defining hours for Lionel Messi, who considers that there will no longer be a reversal in the relationship with Barcelona after having announced to the club his decision to change the air. And of all the destinations that were handled during these hours, Manchester City is the one that is increasingly closer to the Flea .
In the Spanish press they affirm that the definition could be closer than expected. Leaders of the English club are preparing to travel to Barcelona as soon as possible and try to mark the final lines of a proposal that first convinces La Pulga .
Leo's decision to leave Barcelona immediately generated a stir in the football world and triggered all kinds of speculation about his fate. However, it is difficult to imagine the player in a club that is not one of the world's elite. And the Premier League is in that sense a chance for Leo to regain that glory that was elusive last season.
Manchester City, beyond his wide wallet, is a place where the Flea would meet again with Pep Guardiola, the coach with whom he enjoyed the best days at the Catalan club. And the offer for Leo would be a three-year contract with two more years to retire in MLS (where New York City FC, a City affiliate, is). To get there, always according to the information released by ESPN, Leo would put as a condition that they guarantee Guardiola's continuity beyond 2021.
According to the Catalan station RAC1, Jorge Messi, Leo's father, is already negotiating with the English club. The intermediary in the arrangement is Ferran Soriano, current CEO of Manchester City, who was a manager of Barcelona in Lionel's early years as a player for the institution.
Messi and Kun could meet at City. (Photo: AFP / Pedro Ugarte).
Another Catalan media, 'El Club de la Mitjanit', from Catalunya Radio, assured that Messi himself had called Pep last week to sound out the option of playing for his team, eight years after he led him for the last time in Barcelona .
The economic thing would not be a problem for the player in this case, since it would receive exactly the same income that in the culé team. In addition to the incentive that would be the eventual reunion with Guardiola, there is another factor that brings Leo closer to the City: the possibility of playing again with his friend Sergio Agüero, his partner in the National Team for 15 years.
Guardiola had the best Messi in history among his ranks, and together they won 14 titles in just four seasons. The most prominent were the 2009 and 2011 Champions League, with the Argentine as the main figure.
Guardiola brought out the best version of Messi. Do they get back together? (Photo: AFP / Javier Soriano).
In this edition of the Champions League, Manchester City was surprisingly out in the quarterfinals against Lyon. The tournament is the great pending subject of the club, which would seek the first in its history with Messi.
The Citizen team is part of the City Football Group, whose owners are Arab sheiks who own clubs on four of the five continents. In 2013 they created New York City FC (United States), a possible destination for the Flea in 2023 if it effectively agrees with those from Manchester. They also own Melbourne City (Australia), Yokohama Marinos (Japan), Mumbai City (India) and Montevideo City Torque (Uruguay).
All the speculations were unleashed since this Tuesday the top idol of Barcelona announced by burofax that he decided to leave the club immediately, using a clause that allowed him to declare himself free at the end of the season. This can generate a long legal battle, because the Blaugranas claim that the player can only leave due to the termination clause, stipulated at 700 million euros. Meanwhile, the versions about his destiny will keep rolling until there is a definition.