Lionel Messi 'Evolved Differently,' Would Not Fit Into Manchester City

A former Arsenal star still believes that Lionel Messi’s game is not suited for Manchester City.

An interesting debate has been going on lately in football as former Arsenal star Alex Scott just went against the whole soccer world after claiming that Messi’s style has changed a lot these days. According to Scott, Messi’s game has “evolved differently.” This is apparently the reason why Scott is defending that the Barcelona superstar would not fit in well with Manchester City.

In a recent episode of Sky Sports’ “Goals On Sunday”, Scott sat down with football analyst Chris Kamara and former Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew to discuss the issue.

During the talk, Scott doubted that the football icon will match the style of Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola. While Kamara on the other hand, was convinced that Messi would “fit into anyboby’s team.”

"Somebody said to be the other day would Messi fit into that (City's) team, and I said Messi would fit into anybody's team," Kamara said.

"With Messi's levels, do you think Pep [Guardiola] would have him in that team?" Scott replied.

"I don't think you ever turn down a Lionel Messi. You play him whatever football club you're at, in my opinion. Not yours?" Kamara probed.

"I don't know. I went to see Barcelona play Manchester United in the Champions League and Messi's game has evolved differently," the Arsenal player explained.

According to Scott, Messi seems to know how to play the game so well to the point that he appears to be “saving himself” at times. "He was actually spending most of his time... he knew when to come into the game and when to stay out of it. It was as if he was saving himself. Yes I understand, Messi is Messi, he's going to win you games, but just seeing how every single player for City is pressing, closing down, it's a different tempo," Scott pointed out.

Pardew also had the same take as Kamara’s and responded by saying that Barcelona's front three never defend and that Messi is such a great player he would be able to adapt to anything.

Despite these accusations about Messi, the Barcelona captain appears to be focused. In fact, it will be remembered that during his traditional pre-season speech , Messi moved the fans once again as he stated that his club fights for everything and vowed this year will be no different.