Transfer talk: Manchester City rest hopes of swiping Lionel Messi from Barcelona on a very big ‘if’

Reports out of England indicate Manchester City believe they are first in line if Lionel Messi decides he wants a move away from Barcelona – which is of course no small caveat.

Incoming Manchester City manager and former Barcelona head coach Pep Guardiola shown with Lionel Messi after a Champions League match in May 2011. Javier Soriano / AFP

Pep Guardiola. Ferran Soriano. Txiki Begiristain. The Barcelona-fication of Manchester City is well on, and they would obviously like to take that to its logical extreme and sign the world's, maybe history's, greatest player.

That, definitely, is no surprise. Every football team in the world wants Lionel Messi. Children want candy to rain from the sky. Adults want money to grow on trees. Of course Manchester City want Lionel Messi.

What is, perhaps, a surprise is that, according to a report published by The Guardian, Manchester City actually believe they could have Lionel Messi.

With one very massive caveat.

City “are confident they are Lionel Messi’s first choice” notes the paper, “should he leave Barcelona”.

Should he leave Barcelona. Club officials have inquired about that, the report notes. And: "...it was established Messi is content at Barca and has no plans to leave...".

It is hard to look much beyond that glaring fact. That Barcelona are the clear-cut best club in the world with the clear-cut best strike trio in the world headed by Lionel Messi, who would seem to be well content with that arrangement.

Read more: Manchester City, looking old, are beginning to give glimpse into end of an era, writes Richard Jolly

Also see: A gulf in class – Barcelona show they are well on way to treble, writes Andy Mitten

But, still, weird things happen. And the report states Manchester City, with Barcelona blood now coursing through the club, “believe Pep Guardiola’s arrival in the summer puts them in pole position should the five-times world player of the year depart”.

Similarly, a report in the Daily Mail says "City have not given up hope" of signing Messi, "though they know the chances of luring him from the Camp Nou are slim".

But: “They believe they would be clear favourites to sign the 28-year-old Argentina star if he wants a new challenge.”

It is not unreasonable to conclude club officials are whispering their ambitions to the media in a public angling for Messi’s attention. Which is a credit to them. Why not aim high?

And they probably are correct in their assessment – if indeed Lionel Messi wanted to leave Barcelona, for some reason, a reunion with Guardiola, Soriano and Begiristain in Manchester would probably be the most attractive among an unlimited number of options.

City have the infrastructure, the ambition, the financial might – all the things a club would need to have to credibly pitch Messi are there. If Messi wants to be pitched.

If.

But, then again, weird things happen. If they do in this case, City are probably right in feeling they are best-positioned to take advantage.

It is just going to take some very weird things for that to ever happen. Cloudy-with-a-chance-of-confectionary weird.

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