Lionel Messi will sign for Man City because who else is there?

Ollie Irish

25th, August 2020

1 Comment

“What a pity Stoke City is no longer a Premier League club”

Lionel Messi has bloody well had enough of carrying Barcelona in the post-Xavi/Iniesta era, and who can blame him. The little boy that Barca lovingly pumped full of growth hormones is finally big enough to stand on his own two, godlike feet. Credible reports claim he wants to terminate his contract IMMEDIATELY – he communicated this by fax! – and seek a new challenge, which triggered an emergency board meeting at the club (some directors have already resigned, apparently). This one will run for some time, probably in the Spanish courts, as Messi believes he can leave on a free, whilst Barcelona maintain their star player has a buy-out clause worth €700m.

After the lawyers have done their thing, there are only two other clubs in the world rich enough to pay his wages: PSG and Manchester City.

Citeh fans are beside themselves of course, whipping #AnnounceMessi to the top of Twitter’s trends (what scenes when Man Utd’s captain is found guilty of being an English lad abroad and it’s not the biggest football story in town).

Of the two most likely scenarios, Messi to City does make a little more sense than a move to Paris: Leo’s never played in England, he’s best mates with Sergio Aguero, he’s still close to Pep Guardiola, he, er, loves the Roses and the Mondays (not sure about this last one). Get Messi-to-City Done!

For Barcelona, Messi’s exit would bring the curtain down on an astonishing dynasty and leave the Catalan club staring into the abyss of a huge rebuilding job. There is no way you can follow on from the likes of Dani Alves, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Messi et al. It’s like when Michael Jordan left the Bulls; everything falls apart in no time. Antoine Griezmann is good, but he’s not that good.

If City pull this off, you could only marvel at the sheer power of money in football: going from Shaun Goater to the actual GOAT in less than 20 years would be incredible. But in 2020, nothing is impossible.

P.S. Cristiano Ronaldo back to Man Utd comes next…