New City base blows Messi’s mind.
Manchester City are set to open their new £200m on Monday morning safe in the knowledge that they already have one pretty high profile fan in the shape of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, the Daily Mirror reports.
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The Barcelona star spent some time at the training complex recently ahead of Argentina’s friendly with Portugal and was apparently blown away with what he saw.
City defender Pablo Zabaleta revealed international team-mate Messi was amazed at the scope and scale of the new development adjacent to the Etihad Stadium.
“We came here with the Argentina national team last time when we played against Portugal and the players were very impressed with it,” said Zabaleta.
“We gave Messi a tour just to try to impress him. No, I’m joking!
“But everyone was impressed. When you come here and see the buildings and stuff it is fantastic.
“They also have a good training ground in Barcelona, with great facilities. Messi has been there for a long time, and even if he was impressed by this.
“We also went to Carrington – our old training ground – and there is a big difference between the two, which we were talking about it.”
Zabaleta even joked that he tried to use the facilities in a bid to convince Messi to join City.
“A new player can be impressed or feel comfortable that they are coming to a big club that will look after them,” said Zabaleta.
“They have everything here to be a good professional and we can’t ask for more – we have everything here.
“It makes a massive difference. City have become a top club, not just in England but in the world, and you need this new facility, a good training ground.
“City sign top players and top players want to train in a good facility. If you want to sign top players to improve our squad, they will come from top teams in Europe probably, and they need to see we are one of the top clubs in the world – this facility makes it special.”
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