Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak has spoken in the past of their interest in signing Barcelona star Leo Messi.
Messi is again being linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium amid poor form at Barcelona and general uncertainty at the club he has been affiliated to for 20 years, says the Mirror.
Friday’s humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League is being seen as a new low for the Catalan club, who crashed out of the same competition with dramatic collapses against Liverpool and Roma in the previous two seasons.
Messi has also been left exasperated at his club’s second place finish in La Liga, which was won by bitter rivals Real Madrid, and is now said to be considering a new challenge.
Speaking to press in the Middle East back in 2016, Al-Mubarak said that that club had tried to bring Messi to Manchester to team him up with Pep Guardiola again.
“We asked Guardiola to talk to him, we offered him triple the salary he has at Barcelona, but he never accepted,” said the City chairman.
However, the club quickly insisted that that wasn’t the case, with a City spokesman simply saying: “We deny the veracity of these quotes.”
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