Manchester City chief operating officer Omar Berrada admits the club are considering a move for Lionel Messi after the 2020/21 campaign.
City were reportedly in talks to sign Messi this summer with the Argentine star pushing for a move away from Barcelona.
In fact, some even claimed he had agreed personal terms with the Premier League side.
But a move never materialised with Messi agreeing to stay at Barcelona. That is despite his discontent with things behind-the-scenes at the Camp Nou.
Messi will be out of contract with the La Liga giants at the end of the season though, and there is plenty of reason to believe he will be moving on to pastures new ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.
And should that be the case, it seems as though City will reignite their interest in the six-time Ballon d’Or winner.
That is after comments made by Berrada, who told the Manchester Evening News: “He’s an amazing talent. He’s somebody that can make a significant impact at any club in the world on and off the pitch immediately.
“He’s the best player in the world, he’s the best player of his generation. I think any club in the world would like to explore the possibility of him joining their team.
“The fact that it was commented that he wanted to come to play for 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.”
When asked whether the 33-year-old could end up at the Etihad in the near future, he added: “It’s hard to guess what could happen. 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.”
- TEAMtalk media