MANCHESTER: Abu Dhabi owned Manchester City FC are reportedly willing to break the world transfer record and cough up a mind boggling £100 million to prize away Lionel Messi from Barcelona, with negotiations said to have taken place at the end of 2016 to prove the Premier League club’s seriousness over a deal.
The Sun claims that talks between the two clubs were held at the end of December in order for City to prove they are serious about signing Messi. The Argentina international has been linked with a possible move away from Barcelona as the two parties continue to stall on a new contract, though the club are determined to tie down his long-term future and not allow him to leave.
The British tabloid added that no official bid was made during the negotiations with City, but the talks were instead to prove that the Premier League side are ready to top the £89 million that Manchester United paid Juventus for Paul Pogba last summer.
City’s links with Barcelona are well documented, with Pep Guardiola not the only former Barcelona staff member currently plying his trade at the Etihad Stadium. Both Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano, City’s director of football and chief executive officer respectively, helped Guardiola morph Barcelona into the dominant force it became under the Spaniard’s tenure, while goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was a summer addition from the Catalan club with Yaya Toure also joining from the Nou Camp.
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