Manchester City will not be in the running to sign Lionel Messi following his exit from Barcelona, according to journalist Pol Ballús.
Barcelona confirmed on Thursday evening that Messi would not be renewing his contract with the club, an astonishing development with the Argentine over a month into free agency.
As you could probably have predicted, emphasis immediately turned to where Messi could be playing his football next – and there’s only a handful of clubs on the planet who could plausibly afford him.
One of those is Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola being the current manager of the Premier League champions not likely to dampen suggestion that Messi could move to the Etihad.
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However, journalist Pol Ballús, most renowned for his work with RAC1 and SPORT in Spain, while also featuring on The Times in the UK, does not believe that City will be in the running.
Pel que m’arriba, el City no fitxarà a Leo Messi. No està als plans.
For what I understand, Man City is not going to be in the race to sign Messi. Not in their plans. More info later on the @TimesSport.
— Pol Ballús (@polballus) August 5, 2021
It’s perhaps difficult to say whether any club will be making a move for Messi so soon after news broke that he will be departing Barcelona. We’ll have to wait and see how things develop.