It’s been sensationally revealed that Manchester City made a bid of just £50m to Barcelona for Lionel Messi when Sheikh Mansour took over the club in 2008.
According to The Sun via the Times, Sheikh Mansour committed to taking over the Manchester outfit on the proviso that they would sign a superstar.
Then came a bizarre series of events. City’s chief executive at the time – Garry Cook, was tasked with handling the deal that would see the club sold to Mansour.
The deal for Mansour to take ownership was signed and sealed with just 24 hours left in the summer transfer window, this left Cook scrambling to agree a deal for the superstar that Mansour desired.
What was about to happen next is truly baffling. After some kind of break down in communication amidst the hectic rush to sign a superstar in the last 24 hours of the window, Cook agreed to sanction a move for Messi.
What Cook didn’t realise at the time is that he’d just agreed to disrespecting one of the biggest clubs in the world by putting forward a measly bid of £50 for Messi. Of course Barcelona never agreed to the offensive bid and City eventually made the signing of tricky Brazilian Robinho on deadline day.
The attacker wasn’t necessarily a massive disappointment for City, he was extremely successful in his debut Premier League season. He managed to score 13 goals, but his talents seemed to have worn off when it came to his second season and he failed to score at all and was eventually sold to AC Milan.
Robinho only managed to play 41 league games for City during his stint in Manchester.
