You’ll do well to find a bigger Lionel Messi fan than Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager never misses an opportunity to shower his former Barcelona player with praise. In Pep’s eyes, nobody compares with the legendary Argentine.
Footage from the documentary series 'Together: Champions Again!' showed Guardiola telling his Man City squad why Messi is different from every other player he’s seen. And when reporters have previously asked if Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne compare to Messi - due to their numbers and passing ability, respectively - the Catalan coach’s answer is always an emphatic ‘no’.
With this in mind, it’s curious why Messi never ended up at Man City. His shock exit from Barcelona in 2021 seemed like the perfect opportunity. Although the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner was 34 at the time, he still possessed the quality to make an enormous impact at the Etihad Stadium.
Even as he approaches his 38th birthday, Messi remains capable of moments of absolute genius, as we recently saw with his sublime free-kick in Inter Miami’s shock 2-1 win over FC Porto at the Club World Cup. However, the reason why Messi never signed for Man City has now been revealed… by none other than Sean Dyche.
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Dyche: Why Pep Warned Messi Against Premier League Move
Argentine warned about the English weather... and Burnley
Lionel Messi
Speaking on talkSPORT, Dyche revealed that it was Guardiola who surprisingly warned Messi against moving to the Premier League. The former Burnley and Everton boss recalled an amusing conversation that he had with Guardiola - arguably the greatest manager in football history - and Steve Bruce.
"I said, 'What was that thing about Lionel Messi,'" Dyche said. "He (Guardiola) goes, 'Sean, Steve, I tell you this. Lionel, he said no way can he come to Manchester City. Because I tell Lionel it rains. It rains and rains. And when it stops raining, it rains again.'
"Then he goes, 'Lionel, on a Monday night, you have to go to Burnley, Sean's team. And they go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.' Brucey was crying!"
Dyche then confirmed Guardiola’s fears for Messi, responding: "I went, 'That's exactly what we're going to do, Pep. You warned him correctly.'
“Me and Brucey were crying, honestly. It was genius. Pep, brilliant." Watch the clip below:
The very prospect of Messi rocking up at Burnley’s stadium ticked Dyche, who added: "Imagine that, his face turning up at Turf Moor going, 'What on earth?’
"Absolutely smashing it down with rain, wind blowing across and knocking you over."
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While it would have been incredible seeing Messi in the Premier League, it seems the GOAT may have made the correct decision by avoiding English football. Sadly, it means we’ll never know the answer to the age-old question of whether Messi could do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke.