Manchester City Chief Hints At A Swoop For Lionel Messi In The Future

Manchester City chief operating officer Omar Berrada has addressed the club's future plans regarding transfers and hinted at the possibility of signing Lionel Messi in the future.

In an interview with Manchester Evening News, Berrada revealed that Messi could change the club’s views in terms of signing players and that a move for the Barcelona superstar is still being considered.

“It's hard to guess what could happen,” the Man City chief said. “If you think back to those two weeks where everything played out at Barcelona, it's almost impossible to guess what will happen next summer.”

“Messi is a generational talent, he's the best player in the world and probably an exception to potential investments that we'd do out of the ordinary but our planning has been done with this current squad and it is being considered with the current opportunities that we have,” he continued.

Back in August, the Citizens became the frontrunners to sign Messi, with the offer said to include a chance for the Argentine to become an ambassador for the City Football Group, the holding company that owns a number of clubs across the world, including City and NYCFC, ESPN reported, citing unnamed sources.

Despite not managing to secure a deal, Berrada is confident City still has the pulling power to lure in the six-time Ballon d’Or winner once it becomes a necessity to sign a valuable striker in the future.

“For every single position we have to be prepared because there can be so many things that can happen, but at the same time, I think we have the financial strength and system ability to make that investment [in a striker] when required,” he explained.

“That's what puts us in a position where we feel comfortable that we'll be able to take the right decision because it also doesn't mean that we'll have to rush into anything - first because Sergio [Aguero] and Gabriel [Jesus] are performing very well, they are two of the best strikers in the world right now, and when we do decide to bring in potentially someone else, whether it is next season or the one after that then we will be in a financial position to do it for the right price,” he added.

For now, Berrada is pleased to know that one of the best players in the world once considered joining their club.

“I think any club in the world would like to explore the possibility of him [Messi] joining their team,” the City chief said. “The fact that it was commented that he wanted to come to play for [Manchester] City just shows you how far the team has come over the last years where the best talent of his generation and potentially saying he wants to come and play for us.”