Lionel Messi’s future faces new twist as Manchester City provided with another opportunity to sign the star | OneFootball

There is still life in the Lionel Messi saga after all. After Manchester City’s hopes of signing the Barcelona superstar were ultimately dashed in the summer, the latest reports offer fresh optimism for the Premier League side’s pursuit of the world’s most talented footballer.

Mike McGrath, writing in The Telegraph, says that “Manchester City will have the chance to offer Lionel Messi a pre-contract as talks over staying at Barcelona are set for later in the season.”

That is, Messi will be free to talk to interested clubs in January while his Barcelona future remains up in the air – which will give City a new chance to tempt the Argentine into making the move to the Premier League.

In the summer, Messi confessed that he wanted to leave Barcelona. And, while he did not name Man City as his preferred destination, it was widely reported that it was indeed Guardiola’s side who had convinced Messi to leave Spain.

Although Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu recently resigned – it was the president’s shambolic running of the club which, it was believed, had persuaded Messi that it was in his best interests to leave the club – it remains unclear if that will be enough to convince the Barcelona star to commit to the club beyond this season.

Given Sergio Aguero’s close bond with Messi, it would also appear likely that any move to sign Messi would prompt a similar effort to extend Aguero’s stay with the club – which would be another much welcomed boost among the City faithful.

We have less than two months to wait until the January window opens, but if the Telegraph’s report is correct, Messi’s future will remain in the balance at that point. Therefore, you can fully expect a revival of last summer’s intense media speculation linking Guardiola’s side to the superstar.

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