After his renewal for two more years, Pep Guardiola felt the need to respond to all the rumors of Manchester City going after Lionel Messi.
The English media has been quite clear about Lionel Messi’s possible arrival to Manchester City with Pep Guardiola as the manager. After the Catalan boss’ renewal, several local newspapers decided to run a similar story in which they report the club’s specific request. The desire is unanimous, they all want Guardiola to convince Messi to play at the club.
But the former Barcelona manager is doing everything he can to not hurt his beloved alma mater. As you might already know, Pep is an academy product who grew up in Barcelona. After winning everything he could possibly win, he returned with the burning desire to become a manager. The only club he had in mind to make that happen was FC Barcelona.
They also gave him his first chance to coach a club and the results were incredible. In a sense, Guardiola feels he owes his life to that institution and he won’t do anything to hurt it. Convincing Lionel Messi to leave is not one of his wishes, but the latest evidence suggests this decision might be out of his hands.
Guardiola refuses to acknowledge the inevitable.
With all the pressure on his shoulders to convince Messi to play at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola wanted to come out and repeat himself. There is no way we will hear him talking about signing Messi and take him away from Barcelona. If this were to happen, Pep wants to make sure no Blaugrana supporter blames him for it. After all, Guardiola already confirmed he wants to return to the club in a different position someday.
Pep revealed the following on Sport: “Leo Messi is a Barcelona player. If you ask for my opinion as a person who received everything from Barça, who’s grown up with them. My wish is for Messi to finish his career there. I would love to see him retire in that club. Truly, there’s nothing I would like more and I’ve said it a thousand times. This is my opinion as a Barça supporter. But I have no idea what goes through his head. Last time I checked, the transfer window doesn’t happen until June.”
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