Former Barca boss not expecting Messi reunion.
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Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has ruled out the possibility of his new club Bayern Munich ever signing Lionel Messi, according to Goal.com.
The pair enjoyed tremendous success together during Guardiola’s reign at the Nou Camp, with his management seeming to lift Messi’s game to another level in a trophy-laden four seasons between 2008 and 2012.
Now taking on a new challenge at the Allianz Arena, Guardiola has been linked with a few of his former stars at Barcelona, and succeeded in bringing in highly-rated youngster Thiago Alcantara this summer, though he believes Bayern would never spend the kind of money required to sign Messi.
The Argentine has an enormous release clause of around £209m at Barca, and the Catalans are unlikely to accept any other offer for their star player, who some feel is the best player of all time.
The Spaniard also added that Messi is currently happy at Barcelona and not looking to leave the club.
“[Bayern president] Uli Hoeness surely would never offer to spend a fortune to sign Messi,” he told reporters.
“Bayern Munich does not work that way, and the player is happy at Barcelona.”
Guardiola has not spent huge amounts of money since taking over at Bayern, signing just Alcantara and exciting German prospect Mario Goetze from rivals Borussia Dortmund, as he faces the tricky task of building on the club’s incredible treble success under his predecessor Juup Heynckes last season.