Man City warned over Messi transfer if summer provide the best opportunity to seal move
Manchester City have been urged to NOT sign Lionel Messi if he chooses to leave Barcelona this season.
The Argentine maestro is said to be considering his future with his Nou Camp contract set to expire at the end of the season.
Messi is still one of the best-performing players in the world, but was overshadowed by 22-year-old Kylian Mbappe as the Paris Saint-Germain star scored a hat-trick against Barca in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The decline of the Catalan side over the past two seasons, plus the revelation of the club’s financial woes, has put Messi’s future under the microscope and there are reports he is wanted by both Man City and PSG.
But, despite his undoubted class, there are big doubts over whether the aging great is cut out for the physicality of the Premier League at this stage of his career.
And Simon Jordan says he would be a waste of money for City, claiming Pep Guardiola ‘doesn’t need him’.
The talkSPORT pundit branded the potential move a ‘Harlem Globetrotter signing’ and compared it to when Manchester United legend George Best joined Scottish side Hibernian in the twilight years of his players days.
“I don’t see Lionel Messi at 33 years of age coming to Manchester City, and the club trying to bear the burden of what might be a nearly £50m-a-year salary,” Jordan told talkSPORT host Jim White.
“Come on Simon,” replied White. “It would be brilliant!”
But the former Crystal Palace owner was not having it…
“I suppose it was brilliant for Hibernian fans when George Best tuned up, but ultimately what you get is a different dynamic.
“I’m not being disrespectful comparing George Best in that stage of his career to Lionel Messi now, but I just don’t see Man City with the way Pep Guardiola has rebuilt them, I don’t know why Man City would need Lionel Messi.
“Pep Guardiola has rebuilt Man City from what people thought was the carcass of a team last year.
“I just don’t see, besides the Harlem Globetrotter mentality, why they would need Messi!”
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