Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he is unsure what the future holds for Lionel Messi but 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 two-year 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.”
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman, forced to handle yet another difficult situation regarding Messi, has demanded more “respect” for his disgruntled star.
Koeman said he understood why Messi was visibly angry when journalists asked him about the criticism directed at him by a former agent of teammate Antoine Griezmann when Messi arrived in Spain on Wednesday after a long flight.
“I need to defend Leo because if something happened to me after a trip of 15 hours in a plane back to Barcelona — you go outside and there is a lot of press asking that type of question — I would be dangerous and hate them as well,” Koeman said on Friday. “We have to respect people like Messi more. And from what I have seen on the field and in training, there is no problem between (Messi and Griezmann).”
Eric Olhats, Griezmann’s agent until 2016, told France Football magazine last week that Messi has marginalised Griezmann in his “regime of terror” at the club where the Argentine supposedly “controls everything.”
When journalists asked Messi for his response, he wearily answered: “To be honest, I’m a bit tired of always being the problem for everything in this club.”
That set off another round of alarm bells at Camp Nou about Messi’s future. Many are concerned that the latest unpleasant episode will be another reason for Messi to go through with his plan to leave the club.
Koeman said that while he does not feel it is his job to convince Messi to stay, he is confident the 33-year-old forward will prolong his 20-year stint at Barcelona.
“I hope he will stay in Barcelona,” Koeman said.
“It is unbelievable what he has done for this club, but he is the main person to make a decision about his future,” he added.
Barcelona will visit Atlético Madrid, the league’s only unbeaten team, on Saturday.
