For all that Pep Guardiola has accomplished at Manchester City, winning the Premier League three times in his first four seasons, he still has two main objectives to achieve at the club. One is to get the greatest player he’s ever coached, Lionel Messi, over to Manchester.
City has tried to acquire Messi a couple times, and in 2020 they came a little bit closer. Given the Argentine winger’s contract situation at Barcelona, 2021 could be their best chance yet, but the odds might could be against them.
“We hope to play together, of course,” Sergio Aguero said to reporters when asked if his arrival was an indicator that Messi has decided to stay at the Catalan club.
“But what happens with Leo is a decision he will take with the club. It’s a pleasure to play with him. If he stays here, which I think he will, we will give our best for the club to achieve big things.”
Aguero officially completed his move over to Catalonia from City today. Man City’s all-time leading scorer came up through the ranks, internationally, alongside Messi with Argentina. If Messi, who sees his contract expire this summer, moves this transfer window, it would probably be to Manchester City, and only City.
“I speak with [Messi] every day, but I can’t tell you what about,” Aguero continued, laughing while doing so. “The last message was him congratulating me on my signing.
Messi is the ultimate “get” for City, even more than Pep was when they signed him. Guardiola and Messi are the soccer coach-player dynamic duo in the same way that Bill Belichick-Tom Brady are in football.
The knock on Pep is that he’s never won a Champions League without Messi, and now he’s at a club that has never finished higher than runners-up. This was their best shot, as they entered the final as the favorite, but they still fell short.
Obviously, this is the second main objective that Guardiola must achieve at City, and he’s well aware that his legacy at the club will be judged by whether or not he clears this final hurdle. While this tournament was the club’s all-time high water mark in the competition, they’re still not there.
On Guardiola’s watch, the club has crashed out three times in the quarter-final round, as well as another exit in the round of 16.
Finally winning this tournament, with Pep holding the trophy known as “ol’ big ears,” standing on a stage propped up on a pitch would further signal the arrival of City; as would the signing of Lionel Messi.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.