Manchester City transfer news: Pep Guardiola's side willing to spend £100 million to land Barcelona's Lionel Messi

When Manchester City made Pep Guardiola their manager at the Etihad Stadium, they expected the same level of success that he achieved at Barcelona and Bayern Munich at Manchester City.

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But given his side's most recent 4-0 hammering at the hands of Everton on Sunday, his plans and tactics are clearly not working. Officials at Manchester City are now ready to pay £100 million to get Barcelona ace Lionel Messi to the Premier League and reunite him with his former manager.

After Neymar and Luis Suarez recently signed a new contract with Barcelona, it was expected that Lionel Messi will do the same. But the Argentine has been holding out on signing a new contract with Barcelona admitting that they cannot meet his current contract demands.

In a recent report it was claimed that Manchester City officials met with Barcelona official over a potential move last month, with City stating that they are even willing to pay more than the £89 million that Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba over the summer. Manchester City felt their initial talks were positive as Barcelona was at least ready to listen to their proposition.

It's rumoured that Manchester are willing to offer Messi a deal worth £800,000 a week and they feel a chance to work under Pep Guardiola will tempt him to make the move to England.

Lionel Messi turns 30 this June and if Manchester City is serious about getting him to the Premier League, now would be the perfect time. And if he were to play under Guardiola again, Manchester City would no doubt be a major threat to any team in Europe.