Manchester City still interested in Lionel Messi but have reduced their offer

A few days ago, Goal reported that Manchester City have denied claims of negotiating with Lionel Messi however, a new report suggests that they are indeed interested and even shared the offer details. According to reports from Sport via The Sun, City are still looking to sign the world’s best player, however, they have reduced their offer.

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The English giants were the club tipped to sign Lionel Messi when the player announced, in August, that he would be leaving Barcelona. The Argentine had sent an official request to the club’s board saying that he wanted to trigger his clause in the contract which allowed him to leave at the end of the season. He was unfortunately held back, however, due to some legal reasons.

The reason why City was the club he was most linked to is because of their manager, Pep Guardiola. The Spanish mastermind shares a special bond with his former player and both of them would love to reunite. Besides that, the six times Ballon d’Or winner wants to win trophies and The Citizens are one of the best teams in Europe at the moment under the guidance of Guardiola.

There has been no new news from the English side since their unsuccessful try in the summer transfer window where Barca denied any option of a free transfer. While there were many reports claiming that Messi would earn an incredible 700 million euro deal, it seems like City are backtracking and are reducing that offer to 500 million euros which is still a huge amount.

Should Messi join the City organization, they will probably tie him down to the City family for at least five years. Two years with Manchester City, which could be extended to three, and then two more years with their sister club, New York City FC in the MLS. The legend also has the option to play in India where they have another club, Mumbai City, but Leo is likely to return to Argentina or stay in USA as he has previously revealed intentions of staying.

Will City be able to convince Lionel Messi to leave Barca?