Lionel Messi will finish his career at Barcelona after penning new mega contract, reveals Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Guardiola denies reports that City offered Messi a signing on fee of £88m before he signed his new deal at Barca
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PEP GUARDIOLA has denied reports that Manchester City offered Lionel Messi a signing on fee of £88million before he signed his new deal at Barcelona.
And the City boss reckons that there was no chance that the Argentinian would have ended up at the Etihad.
claim City were ready to offer Messi a signing on fee of almost double their record transfer — while paying him a staggering £850,000-a-week AFTER tax.
He said: "Lionel Messi has signed a contract one week ago.
"Never was going to happen, Messi started his career there and he's going to finish it there.
"If he wanted to leave he wouldn't have signed the contract. It's not true."
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Meanwhile, David Silva is facing a fight to be fit for the Manchester derby on Sunday.
The City ace has stayed behind while his team-mates prepare to face Shakhtar Donetsk tonight on Wednesday.
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Guardiola has refused to reveal the nature of the problem for his Spanish playmaker.
But he said he is not sure whether Silva - who got the winner against West Ham on Saturday - will be ready to play at Old Trafford.
He said: "David had problems in the last minutes against West Ham - we made a test after the game.
"I don't know if he'll be able to play sunday. he stayed to recover in Manchester."
"He was uncomfortable before he scored the goal, he felt something. Now hopeuflly - but it was too risky to play here."