Gary Lineker thinks Manchester City should make the utmost efforts to seize the opportunity of signing wantaway Barcelona stalwart Lionel Messi.
Messi was seemingly heading towards a single-club career until recently. However, things have changed in the recent turn of events.
A painful 8-2 Champions League hammering to Bayern Munich has made the Argentinean have a change of heart.
Barcelona already dismissed Quique Setien and sporting director Eric Abidal as part of their bid to convince the 33-year-old to remain at Camp Nou.
Inter Milan have expressed their ambition to bring the six-time Ballon d’Or winner to the Giuseppe Meazza.
However, a blockbuster reunion with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City is also on the cards.
Former England and Barcelona striker Gary Lineker is the last in line who believes the Premier League powerhouse should go all-out for Messi.
“It’s sad because you’ve got a generation of players who have been great and have won a lot, but old father time catches up with everyone, and it’s brutal, particularly in football,” he told talkSPORT.
“Koeman has got one hell of a job on his hands – this is going to be a massive transition period.
“It would be interesting to see whether Messi does stay or leave, and it would be very sad for Barcelona, but at the same time, it would be very sad to see his last couple of years at the top just peter out in an ordinary team.
“Imagine if he did come to the Premier League, say a club like Manchester City, which is the obvious link because of Guardiola.
“With all the investment at City and the club want to turn into a global brand, who better than someone who had got hundreds of millions of fans all around the world?
“It would do it instantly. All of a sudden, Manchester City would have fans all over the world.
“For one of the new money clubs like City, it takes a long time to build that fanbase.
“So you could see there would be an interest, and that’s aside from the fact he’s also the most magical footballer I think we’ve ever seen.”
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