Reports coming out of Spain today are saying that the Premierships Manchester City have put together an incredible £164 million offer in an attempt to lure one of the world’s top players to the Etihad according to the Daily Express.
City owner, the oil-rich Qatari Sheikh Mansour has been watching Messi since buying Manchester City in 2008, and feels now is the right time to try and get Messi to join his team after a series of injuries that has seen the Argentinian four-time Ballon d’Or winner not have the best of seasons for Barcelona despite scoring 40 goals under coach Tata Martino.
Messi has yet to sign a new contract at The Nou Camp leading to speculation that he might be willing to move to one of Europe’s emerging powerhouse teams with another oil-funded team Paris Saint-Germain also said to be interested in his services.
It will be up to former Barcelona and now City men Txiki Beguiristain and Ferran Soriano to convince Messi to sign for Manchester City where Coach Manuel Pellegrini has plans to play him alongside Argentinian teammate Sergio Agüero.
It would be hard to imagine Barcelona ever letting him leave but having Brazilian starlet Neymar on the team might temp them to go for the money which would help with the building process as they prepare to start replacing many of their aging players.
