According to a new book, Lionel Messi met with Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2020 to discuss moving to Manchester City.

Messi famously started a global trend with the term “burofax” and caused an internal crisis at Barcelona by threatening to terminate his contract. Marti Perarnau’s recently published book, God Save Pep, claims that Messi expressed interest in joining City through a WhatsApp message from Sergio Aguero, who said that his international colleague had asked how long Guardiola’s contract was still in place. Messi and Guardiola then had a direct conversation that resulted in a meeting at Guardiola’s Barcelona residence.

The two are rumoured to have had an open discussion in which Guardiola warned his former protégé about the city’s infamously rainy climate and impressed upon his former player how difficult the Manchester training regimen was. Perarnau claimed that Messi was still adamant about wanting to go.

In the end, the discussion turned out to be academic in nature, as Messi was unable to lawfully terminate his contract after submitting his request past the deadline. Barcelona steadfastly upheld the player’s €700 million (£605 million/$767 million) release clause.

After deciding to stay for his contract’s final year, Messi revealed his choice in an exclusive interview with GOAL. Messi’s contract expired a year later, and the club was unable to extend it due to La Liga’s financial fair play regulations. But Paris Saint-Germain, not City, was the team that managed to get a deal done with the player.