Guardiola Squash Messi Rumors
There has been a large number of rumors going on about Lionel Messi. Currently, Messi has not extended his contract with Barcelona past the 2020-21 season. This made some people speculate about a move to Manchester City. However, Pep Guardiola was quick to squash the Messi transfer rumors.
Guardiola is still waiting to talk about transfers. He continued to stay silent at a press conference ahead of City’s Wednesday game against Newcastle.
“As I’ve said before, we’ll talk about the transfer market at the end of the season and I won’t say anything now,” Guardiola explained in his native Catalan.
“But my preference is for Messi to stay at Barcelona.”
It was linked a few years ago when Guardiola moved from Bayern Munich to City. He said that he would love for Messi to meet him there. Guardiola’s four year run at Camp Nou allowed the team to win two Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles.
Although the pair does well together, Guardiola probably recognizes that it would be hard for Messi to leave Barca. The 33-year-old has spent 20 years with Barca, starting at the age of 13. Messi will likely want to retire with the team that he started with.
There have been some links to Messi moving to an Italian club, like Juventus. But that is highly unlikely.
Even though Messi won’t make his way to City, he may see Guardiola soon. City is set to compete against Real Madrid at the reorganized Champions League tournament in August. They have to finish their second leg game and are currently up 2-1 against Real.
Then Barca has to finish their second leg game with Napoli. They are currently tied 1-1.
The draw for the final three rounds of Champions League will happen virtually on Friday. Therefore, there is a chance that Barca could face City in the next round.
