Guardiola hopes Messi ends career at Barcelona
london — Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hopes as a Barcelona fan that the Argentine forward will remain at the La Liga club until the end of his career. Guardiola, who has guided City to two Premier League titles, three League Cups and the FA Cup following his arrival in 2016, signed a new twoyear deal on Thursday that will keep him in charge until the end of the 2022-23 season.
The former Barca manager’s extension at City has opened up the possibility of a reunion with Messi in England, with the player in the last year of his current contract in Spain having unsuccessfully tried to leave the club in the close season.
“Messi’s a player for Barcelona. If you ask me my opinion I have huge gratitude for what Barcelona have done for me. I want him to finish his career there,” Guardiola told reporters ahead of Saturday’s Premier League trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
“I’d love, wish, I’ve said a thousand times. I’d like as a Barcelona fan for him to finish his career there. I don’t know what is in his mind, for now he’s a Barcelona player. The transfer market is in June. This is only half in our minds.”
But Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has admitted he has no idea if Messi will leave Barcelona next summer and said it is not his job to persuade the Argentinian to stay. Messi can talk to other clubs in January and leave for free when his contract expires in June, with City expected to make a renewed attempt to lure the 33-year-old away from Camp Nou.
“Messi still has a contract and in my opinion he has to stay here,” Koeman said.
“But I am not the person that has to try to make him stay here. We will see about his future, still he is a Barcelona player. Nobody knows what will happen with the future of Messi.” — Reuters/AFP