Manchester City is set to lure four-time World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi with a world-record €170 million transfer fee, The Sun has reported.
The Citizens are also willing to pay a mouth-watering weekly wage of €1.1 million, which translates to N275 million!
City are expected to offer Messi a deal worth €56.8 million a year (around N14.2 billion) if he will consider switching Barcelona for Manchester.
The diminutive Argentine is currently the second-highest paid player in world football, with a weekly wage of €256,000 after tax.
According to The Sun, City’s representatives have already met Messi’s agent several times and are convinced he will move to the English Premier League season, considering that he has less than three years left on his contract with Barcelona.
The player’s present contract with the Catalan club runs out in June 2018, although he has a massive €250 million release clause, should he decide to leave before then.
However, according to Spanish sport paper MARCA, City are convinced they can secure the services of the 28-year-old for €170 million next season.
If Messi does make the move next year, he is expected to link up with his former manager Pep Guardiola, who has been tipped to replace City’s Chilean manager, Manuel Pellegrini.
Guardiola’s switch is also looking more likely, as his present bosses at Bayern Munich have started making suggestive statements like “no one is irreplaceable”, a hint that all may not be settled concerning his long-term future at Bavaria.