If Lionel Messi decides to leave Barcelona, no other club in Europe can tempt him other than Manchester City.
Messi’s future questions are always interesting to talk about. Messi’s loyalty to Barcelona is very strong, making predictions of other clubs that can use the services of Messi, if the possibility is open, it becomes interesting to note.
Messi has always confirmed his loyalty to Barcelona. But there are two things that allow Messi to get out of Barcelona.
First, Messi is frustrated with Barcelona’s squad which is considered increasingly uncompetitive. That would worsen Messi’s relationship with Barcelona’s board of directors and could lead him to the exit.
Second, Messi left Barcelona with the reason he wanted to get some fresh air. Messi needs to find answers to his abilities outside of Barcelona before his career as a soccer player ends.
Indeed the club most likely to become the second club in Messi’s professional career is a club outside Europe. Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States or clubs in Asia like Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.
But if indeed Messi has the desire to survive playing at the top level of Europe, Manchester City is the club most likely to recruit him.
Messi is almost impossible to play in the Bundesliga because the Bundesliga level is below La Liga. Not only that, Bayern Munich as the most elite team in the Bundesliga were not too far-fetched in terms of player salaries.
For the same reason, the French League would also not be a goal for Messi if he left Barcelona.
The English league is the league that most likely tempted Messi to leave Barcelona. And judging by the row of English clubs that exist, Manchester City is the team most likely to recruit Messi.
The figure of Pep Guardiola is the strongest factor for Messi to be able to accept the proposal of Manchester City. With the Guardiola scheme, Messi will automatically not take long to adjust the pattern of the game because he is already familiar with how to play Guardiola.
Even when comparing the quality of Barcelona minus Messi and Manchester City today, ‘The Citizens’ has a more complete and competitive squad than ‘Blaugrana’.
The Blaugrana are preparing to face a crisis because Messi’s contemporaries like Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez are getting older while young players are not yet reliable.
The second reason, Manchester City has Sergio Aguero who is a close colleague of Messi for a long time. The Aguero factor could have smoothed Messi’s desire to join Manchester City.
The third factor that can tempt Messi is competition in the Premier League. Premier League offers fierce competition compared to La Liga which only struggles in Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Manchester City is currently under Liverpool so there are big challenges awaiting Messi with Manchester City.
Matter of salary, although Messi states the main focus in his career is football, Manchester City will be able to meet the salary standards of Messi, who is the highest-earning player in the world today.
Manchester City’s toughest challenge to be able to tempt Messi might come from the Italian League. Not because of the charm of the club, but because of the presence of the figure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
If Messi misses rivalry against CR7, it is quite possible Messi joins Inter Milan, on condition CR7 stays at Juventus.
All these assumptions would certainly not be realized if Barcelona managed to keep Messi comfortable in their arms.