Man City to offer Lionel Messi New York City transfer and ambassadorial role as part of 10-year plan for Barcelona star
MANCHESTER CITY are reportedly set to offer Lionel Messi a future move to the MLS to maximise the benefits of bringing him to the club.
The Times claim Pep Guardiola’s side are set to launch another attempt to sign the Argentine in the new year.
And the report adds that the City Football Group (CFG) are willing to offer Messi the chance to play for sister club New York City FC later in his career – as they once did with Frank Lampard.
The Barcelona icon could also choose any of the other eight teams in the CFG portfolio including Japanese outfit Yokohama F Marinos and Melbourne City in Australia.
Furthermore, City are said to be planning to tempt Messi with an ambassadorial role after he has hung up his boots.
City missed out on the Barca superstar in the summer when he was forced into staying after a bitter legal row.
But with the Argentine’s relationship with Barca still frosty and the Spanish club desperate for money, City are considering making a move in the upcoming transfer window.
But Barcelona presidential favourite Victor Font has told City to forget about signing Messi in the new year.
Messi, 33, will be out of contract in the summer and a cut-price deal could tempt the cash-stricken Catalan giants.
But Font says he has already made it clear to City chief executive Ferran Soriano that if he is nominated, Barca will not consider selling him.
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Font revealed: “I already told Soriano to forget about Messi, to look for alternatives to win the Champions League.
“Messi will continue with us and we will win the Champions League.”
Messi has scored an incredible 640 goals in just 742 appearances for Barca, winning an astonishing ten LaLiga titles and four Champions Leagues.