Manchester City are preparing to submit an offer of 233 million euros to acquire the services of Barcelona play-maker, Lionel Messi, according to reports in England.
The Argentina forward has refused to sign a new contract at Camp Nou and would want to join up with former coach, Pep Guardiola.
The presence of sporting director, Txiki Begiristain and executive director, Ferran Soriano could also attract the Argentine captain.
According to The Mirror, the Citizens are willing to put 200 million pounds (233m euros) on the table.
This breaks down to 116 million euros for the transfer, while Messi would want 30m euros a year (about 600,000 euros per week) for four seasons.
The five-time World Footballer of the Year’s current deal ends in 2018 and has a 250m euro release clause, and as MARCA newspaper already announced, the player told Barcelona in July that for the moment, he didn’t want to renew with the club.
If he does decide to leave, City is the club that has the best chances of signing him, and Soriano only stoked the fires in a recent interview.
Soriano said, “It would be natural for Messi to finish his career at Barcelona,” he said to RAC1.
“He will decide, but if he calls us one day we will open the door for him immediately.”