As the race to sign Pep Guardiola heats up among the Premier League clubs, Manchester City seem to be leaving no stone unturned in order to land the Catalan. In fact, they are also set to give him enough money to sign Lionel Messi.
Guardiola, who has refused to extend his contract with Bayern Munich, is set to leave the Bavarian club at the end of the season. The Catalan has made his intentions to work in the Premier League quite clear in recent statements.
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These statements by Guardiola seem to have left the ball in the court of the Premier League clubs, with at least three of them chasing his signature. However, Manchester City are said to be the frontrunners with regards to landing Guardiola, and are even financially prepared to buy Messi from FC Barcelona to help Guardiola, according to the Daily Express.
City looking to end struggles
Manchester City have been struggling a lot this season, with their main worry being a leaky defence, caused by the absence of Vincent Kompany. However, manager Manuel Pellegrini’s inability to plug the gaps in spite of having one of the most expensively assembled squads at his disposal seems to be bringing his reign at the Etihad Stadium to an end.
Pep Guardiola could be the answer to their problems, but how much money would the Catalan be throwing around to build a legendary squad, is another matter.
City will probably have to break the bank
Of course nobody can imagine FC Barcelona wanting to sell Lionel Messi at the moment, but a reunion with Guardiola might just be the thing that could tempt Messi to seek a move out of the Catalan club. However, it would not be cheap for Manchester City to get Messi’s signature on the dotted line.
Messi is currently valued at around A?90 million, by Transfermarkt. Hoiwever, the Argentinian star would cost Manchester City much more than that. Messi is said to have a release clause of ai??i??250 million (more than the stipulated value by A?180 million). Manchester City will likely have to trigger that release clause, in order to have contract talks with Messi.
