Manchester City's silent tactic to sign Messi - 7M sport

Manchester City's silent tactic to sign Messi



Posted Thursday, February 11, 2021 by Marca.com

Manchester City's silent tactic to sign Messi

It is expected that Lionel Messi will depart Barcelona when his contract expires on June 30, and the two frontrunners for his signature are Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

The two clubs are taking very different approaches when it comes to trying to secure the 33-year-old's signature, however.

According to ESPN, Manchester City have decided to work in the shadows and be a lot less aggressive in their pursuit of Messi, while conversely, PSG have been very open in their desire to sign the six-time Ballon d'Or winner.

The same publication reports that when Messi announced that he wanted to leave Barcelona last summer, City got in touch with him and even Pep Guardiola spoke to him on the phone. Since then, various people at City have been in regular talks with Messi's entourage.

It is worth noting that City had gone through the finances of potentially signing Messi last August and came to the conclusion that they could adhere to UEFA's financial fair play rules, but Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu refused to let the Argentine leave, instead pointing to his 700 million euro release clause.

Now, almost six months on, Manchester City are happy to bide their time and wait until the end of the season, at which point Messi will make his decision. Until then, they will simply view PSG's media-heavy tactics from a distance.

"PSG are making a mistake with the strategy they're using," one source told ESPN. "Leo doesn't like all that noise in the media and even less the type of comments [which have been made]."



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