Manchester City Needs Lionel Messi

Manchester City have taken the unprecedented step of issuing a statement denying that they have made any attempt to sign Barcelona star Lionel Messi. The Premier League giants were reported to have made a huge offer to try and prise the Argentinian away from Camp Nou, but those stories are well wide of the mark, according to the club. "Manchester City Football Club note with interest the reports circulating in the Spanish media that the club has made an offer to the Barcelona player Lionel Messi and that he has turned down the chance to join the club," the statement began on the club's official website. "While acknowledging that Lionel Messi is a world-class player of the highest calibre, Manchester City would like to make it clear that the club has at no time made an approach to Mr. Messi or his representatives." Marca stated that representatives from the mega-rich English outfit had made an offer to buy out Messi's contract for a fee of €150 million and a salary of €10 million per-season to the player himself. The report then suggested that Messi turned down the bid immediately because he does not want to leave Camp Nou, having already refuted previous stories linking him with a move elsewhere. Manchester City have chosen to deny the report given that it stated that an offer had been made, which would have gone against chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak's declaration on the club's official website that his club would not be splashing the cash this summer.