Manchester United concede Messi to Manchester City

17 November 2016 04:07

If he was to leave Barcelona the hierarchy at Manchester United have admitted defeat and have conceded that bitter cross town rivals City would be favourites to sign Lionel Messi. At the moment Messi and Barcelona are at a impasse over a new mega-deal that would pay him £825,000-a- week, which would make the Argentine superstar by far the best paid player on the planet.

Recently Messi's main rival as the world's greatest player, Cristiano Ronaldo has recently signed a new five-year £365,000-a- week after tax deal with Real Madrid. wages are growing, Welsh wizard Gareth Bale has agreed to stay at European champions Real Madrid for three more years to earn £350,000-a-week after tax with €1bn buyout clause. To tie up two of the world's best forwards Real Madrid have agreed to contracts worth more than £600,000 a week before tax.

To put this in perspective for Manchester United, who could afford the sum if they had to, the current highest paid player in their squad is France international Paul Pogba who is earning £290,000 per week until 2021. The second richest player is England captain Wayne Rooney on £260,000-a- week until 2019.

A source from Old Trafford explained “City would be the favourites if he were to one day leave, but we would obviously love to sign a player of that level. We can certainly compete on the cash front and Messi is an Adidas player like Paul Pogba, so we have our pluses. But all the same, we would not get involved in any bidding war unless Messi’s camp gave an indication that he was willing to come here.”

Despite the ability to afford the Argentinian ace should he be available, club chiefs believe the biggest hurdle is the lure of Pep Guardiola and this would give City the edge in the race to sign the five time Ballon d'Or winner from the Catalonians. Messi is the latest in a number of stars the Blaugrana have been trying to sign to longer contracts. So far Neymar and Mascherano have penned new contracts and Suarez is close to agreeing terms as Barca fight off the Premier League's big money clubs. The Argentine striker has scored an incredible 433 times in 456 appearances during his time at the Nou Camp and made his debut in 2004. He has amassed a warehouse full of trophies including four Champions League and eight La Liga's and of course five Ballon d'Or's.

However, the big point is whether or not he ever leaves the only club he has ever played for at senior level. It is a massive "if" and of course there would be interest from PSG and the super rich Chinese clubs. However, City would have the edge with Guardiola and CEO Ferran Soriano both former Barcelona men who Messi knows well.

However Barcelona are not too worried, President Josep Maria Bartomeu is convinced Messi will agree to a new deal and stay at the club. He said recently “all of Barca believe this is how it has to be, because he is the player that in the last few years has brought us sporting success. I believe we've got a team with incredible players, all of them. There is nonetheless a leader of course, Leo Messi, he is well known and popular all over the world. We're all convinced, we're all positive Leo Messi will end his sporting career in Barca.”

Source: DSG