Despite how otherworldly Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi were as a duo during their time at Barcelona, the pair never got the chance to work with each other again.
Messi eventually left his boyhood club to sign for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, before joining Inter Miami last year.
A case can be made that there has never been a player-manager duo that has dominated football quite like Guardiola and the Argentine legend.
But after the £378,846-a-week man left Barcelona in 2012, the pair went their separate ways.
After Manchester City won the Champions League last year, Messi lauded Guardiola by referring to him as “the best coach in the world.”
Even when Erling Haaland was in the running to win the Ballon d’Or, the Catalan tactician claimed via Sky Sports News that the award should be split into two: with one always going to the World Cup winner.
There seems to have been no love lost between Guardiola and Messi.
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Messi was edging towards audacious Man City transfer in 2020
But an excerpt from author Martin Perarnau’s upcoming book, ‘The Pep Revolution: Inside Manchester City’ was published in the Daily Mail — detailing how close Messi was to signing for Manchester City in 2020.
It has been stated that at the time, both Guardiola and Messi were feeling deflated.
The former, due to Manchester City’s shock exit in the Champions League quarter-final to Lyon.
The latter, as a result of Barcelona being annihilated 8-2 by Bayern Munich at the same stage of the competition and their failure in Europe over the past couple of seasons.
The excerpt shares that the story began when Sergio Aguero, a close friend of the legendary forward sent a message on WhatsApp to the Manchester City squad which read: “Something big might be happening. Leo’s just asked me how long Pep has left on his contract.”
However, Guardiola, who was returning from a flight back to Lisbon had not come across the message for several hours.
However, when the Spaniard eventually reads the message, he is unaware of the intention behind it, with one possibility being that Barcelona were keen for Messi and Aguero to potentially play together; not spending too much thinking about the message.
After returning from Lisbon, Pep Guardiola heads out to Barcelona before reading a message Messi sent to him that read: “Hi, Pep, how are you?”
The next day, Guardiola and Messi met at the former’s place in Barcelona and had a six and a half hour conversation.
The decorated attacker was dissatisfied with how he was being treated at the Spotify Camp Nou and is willing to make a move to Manchester City.
Guardiola asks Messi: “You do know it rains a lot in Manchester?”
The conversation continues between the pair as the 53-year-old is seemingly keen to discover whether their reunion would be a success.
Guardiola said: “We train hard in Manchester.”
Messi replied: “Doesn’t bother me. I’m ready for hard work.”
Pep Guardiola added: “And I still give long tactical talks. Maybe you’ll get bored.”
Messi said: “I’ll cope, I can cope with anything you throw at me.”
Guardiola questioned Messi, saying: “Leo, we’re both much older than we were. Maybe we won’t get on now.”
The Barcelona legend replied: “Pep, I just want the chance to do great things, to feel like I’m ready to smash it again.”
Eventually, the pair felt like they were ready to reunite at Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola also informs Messi that he will extend his contract at City if he joins the club while Jorge Messi and Ferran Soriano will be expected to handle the negotiations for the mega-transfer to be struck.
At the time, the Rosario-born forward only had one year left on his contract.
The excerpt explains that Pep Guardiola realises that the move could elevate the morale of his side, who were still reeling with disappointment and anger from their defeat against Lyon.
Furthermore, there was a sense of complacency in the squad after their two successive titles wins in 2018 and 2019 amongst other trophies.
Guardiola was concerned about how he will motivate his players after their latest Champions League exit at the time.
But upon hearing that the possibility of Messi joining Manchester City was viable, there was a sense of excitement within the squad.
Bernardo Silva even sent a text promising he will “run twice as much” if the great man made a move to East Manchester.
However, eventually, the transfer saga came to an end as Messi decided to stay at Barcelona.
