Mar 05 2009
Manchester City Target Lionel Messi
photo: Darz Mol
Manchester City look to be once again attempting to force a transfer that will never happen by throwing a ton of money at a player that will realistically never move from their current club. The newest in the trend is Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who’s set up to be another £100million target for City, and just like Kaka, Messi is going to turn down the offer outright.
How many times in the past has Lionel Messi voiced his support for Barcelona and his desire to end his career playing for the club? Barcelona gave Messi the big club training and the world stage he needed to become one of the world’s finest footballers, and Messi knows this and respects what the club has done for him, and has basically pledged his allegiance to them for as long as the Spanish club will keep him. You’re never going to pry a person with that much club loyalty away, no matter how much money you throw at him.
photo: James Adams
That would be like persuading Ryan Giggs, football’s shining example of what loyalty and honour to your club means, to leave his club of 19 years over nothing more than just a wad of cash. Which means it’s n-e-v-e-r going to happen, and City would do well to spend that money instead on 6-7 realistic targets to bolster their squad, instead of wasting time and effort on a deal that’s nothing more than fantasy.
Middlesbrough are bound to flop this season, so spend some of that £100m to save Stewart Downing from the ashes, and throw in Tuncay with him, he’d be a great forward to have on the bench for when City find themselves underperforming or in need of a late goal. Or how about John Carew, a gigantic aerial threat the likes of which City desperately need for their set pieces, and you can’t tell me that after the way he’s been treated this season Aston Villa wouldn’t be ready to part with him. And the biggest plus is that Downing, Carew and Tuncay are realistic targets that still have the potential to turn City into one of those Champions League challenging sides, and they would only cost a fraction of what a Messi would cost, and all three would make you a better club than one Messi possibly could.
