{"id":1129486,"date":"2020-02-07T18:15:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T18:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1129486"},"modified":"2020-02-07T18:15:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T18:15:51","slug":"pep-guardiola-rules-out-man-city-move-lionel-messi-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/pep-guardiola-rules-out-man-city-move-lionel-messi-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola rules out Man City move for Lionel Messi amid talk of Barcelona departure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has ruled out the possibility of signing Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Messi has been synonymous with Barcelona since breaking into the first-team and reaching the pinnacle of football, cementing himself as the greatest player in the club&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<p>The Argentinian had been expected to end his career with Barcelona whenever he chooses to retire, but that was thrown into some doubt recently.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Guardiola rules out signing Messi: Five things to know&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Lionel Messi has been linked with a move away from Barcelona recently.<\/li>\n<li>The Argentinian hit out at sporting director Eric Abidal for comments made about the players.<\/li>\n<li>One potential destination was Manchester City, where Messi would reunite with Pep Guardiola.<\/li>\n<li>However, Guardiola has ruled out a move, hoping Messi finishes his career with Barcelona.<\/li>\n<li>Messi played 219 times for Guardiola at Barcelona, scoring 211 goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-color: transparent; display: block; padding: 0; max-width: 700px;\" title=\"Audioboom player\" src=\"https:\/\/embeds.audioboom.com\/posts\/7494632\/embed\/v4?image_option=fullsq\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After Barcelona sporting director Eric Abidal suggested players were not working hard under previous manager Ernesto Valerde, Messi hit back with a rebuttal on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I honestly do not like to do this kind of thing but I think that everyone has to be responsible for their job and take responsibility for their decisions,&#8221; Messi said.<\/p>\n<p><div style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/EP9JyqcU4AAncLb?format=jpg&amp;name=large\" alt=\"Image\" width=\"750\" height=\"1334\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">[via Twitter\/@BarcaUniversal]<\/p><\/div>&#8220;Players for what happens on the field, we are also the first to acknowledge when we don&#8217;t play well.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Those in charge of sporting direction should also face up to their responsibilities and above all take charge of their own decisions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lastly, I think that when you talk about players, you should give names because otherwise you are tainting everyone&#8217;s name and feeding rumours that spread and are not true.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This led to reports Messi would be looking for a move away in the summer and, naturally, Man City were one of the names linked due to Guardiola&#8217;s presence.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Takumi Minamino: How Japanese fans support Liverpool&#039;s new signing | \u5357\u91ce \u62d3\u5b9f\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7qsprIbhfVE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC_QgsfA8W1TdLADOz0txpTg?sub_confirmation=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Squawka\u2019s Youtube channel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Guardiola and Messi worked together for four years at Barcelona during the Catalan club&#8217;s best spell, winning two Champions Leagues and being known as one of the best sides in history. In total, Messi played 219 times under Guardiola, scoring 211 goals.<\/p>\n<p>But Guardiola has insisted he does not want to sign Messi, instead hoping for the Argentinian to stay at Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a player for Barcelona, he will stay there, that is my wish,&#8221; he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to talk about players for another club. I think he\u2019s going to finish his career there, it\u2019s my wish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Guardiola&#8217;s sentiments were also echoed by Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti, who said: &#8220;It would be fantastic for the Premier League but I don&#8217;t think it is possible.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Messi is a Barcelona legend and I&#8217;m sure he is going to finish his career at Barcelona.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has ruled out the possibility of signing Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. Messi has been synonymous with Barcelona since breaking into the first-team and reaching the pinnacle of football, cementing himself as the greatest player in the club&#8217;s history. The Argentinian had been expected to end his career with Barcelona whenever&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":1119239,"parent":0,"menu_order":3238,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Man City news: Pep Guardiola rules out move for Lionel Messi | Squawka","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has ruled out the possibility of signing Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1129486","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Man City news: Pep Guardiola rules out move for Lionel Messi | Squawka<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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