Lionel Messi News and Rumors: Messi Offered Jaw Dropping Salary by Manchester City
Having already appointed Pep Guardiola as their manager from the next season onwards, Manchester City are now in talks to bring Guardiola's most famous pupil Lionel Messi to the Etihad. According to reports published in The Sun, the City hierarchy have sanctioned an absolutely staggering £800,000 a week salary for the Argentine star if he does decide to make the switch to Manchester. Although this move might have seemed unthinkable a few months back, it is now a real possibility.
Lionel Messi and his father are currently in the process of negotiating a new contract with the powers that be at FC Barcelona but according to the report, the club and the player are far from having reached any kind of agreement regarding the salary or the duration of the new contract. Messi, who is currently paid £256,000 per week after tax, is contracted to Barcelona till 2018, but the club are stalling over offering him a pay rise and another contract that would keep him at the Camp Nou till 2021. Having become aware of the situation, Manchester City, are ready to offer the player a bumper £800,000 a week contract that would run for five years. There is no doubt that Messi is looking for the last big contract of his career.
In addition to that, Manchester City's director of football Txiki Begiristain and chief executive Ferran Soriano, have close ties to the board members of FC Barcelona and would certainly give City an edge in their pursuit of the greatest player in Barcelona history. While it is true that money will not be a stumbling block when it comes to this particular transfer, it is also important to note that the presence of Pep Guardiola in the City dug out could well be a major factor if Messi and his advisors even consider the offer. Messi started his career under the guidance of Pep Guardiola at the junior levels at Barcelona and blossomed into the world's best player under his guidance and a reunion with his mentor might tempt the Argentine to exchange the Camp Nou for the Etihad in the summer of 2016.
