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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Man City 'get Messi boost', Barcelona 'target Klopp and Pochettino'
Like Romeo and Juliet, Sharon and Phil, Trump and Putin and other great love stories of our time, Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi have the kind of powerful bond that is too strong to ever be broken, no matter what trials and tribulations they face.
And it is this fact, and this fact alone, that prompts the Sunday Mirror to run a story once a month declaring with supreme confidence that the Argentine superstar is going to imminently sign for Manchester City.
[READ MORE: Luke Shaw going NOWHERE – Jose Mourinho]
Today’s edition of the esteemed publication is especially perky about the prospect of Messi swapping the city of Gaudi for the city of Gary (Barlow), claiming Etihad bosses have made the signing their “number one summer priority”.
City have apparently received a “double boost” in their Messi pursuit in recent days – 1) because the playmaker’s contract talks with Barca have reached a “stalemate” and 2) because Barcelona are now rubbish following their Champions League thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain.
[READ MORE: Arsene Wenger says talk of future was not a threat to Arsenal chiefs]
However, that seemingly encouraging (for City) result could come back to bite the Blues in the cruellest possible way, because there are rumours that Barca could seek to replace their beleaguered manager Luis Enrique with Guardiola himself.
In other words, Messi and Pep would be reunited – but not in the city of Gary!
Hope is not yet lost though, because Barcelona are also said to be considering Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp (Mirror) and Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino (Sunday Express) as their next boss.
Across Mancunia, Jose Mourinho’s great love affair also continues – the one with himself. The Sun on Sunday reports that the increasingly swaggering Special One is set to be offered a new five-year contract at Old Trafford and instructed to “oversee the £1bn transformation of Manchester United”. £1bn!
Mourinho will start chipping into that hefty budget by spending £200m on Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, Benfica’s Victor Lindelof and Monaco’s Tiemoure Bakayoko at the end of the season.
Liverpool are planning to spend this summer the same way they spent the last one – trying to sign Mario Gotze and Ben Chilwell.
[WATCH: Mario Balotelli SENT OFF in bizarre circumstances]
The Sunday Express says Jurgen Klopp will attempt to snatch Leicester’s 20-year-old left-back from under the noses of Arsenal, while the Sunday Mirror says the Reds have “opened talks” with Borussia Dortmund about bringing Gotze to Anfield less than a year after he returned to his mother club.
One man who reportedly wants to stay in the warm bosom of what he knows is Arsene Wenger, who the Sunday Telegraph says has “hinted” he wants to remain with Arsenal. “My preference is always to manage Arsenal,” the Frenchman stated. Bit more than a hint if you ask us.
Elsewhere, Chelsea have “initiated discussions” about the £70m signing of Monaco’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva (Sunday Times), Bayern Munich are the latest club to express an interest in Celtic’s £30m-rated goalscoring sensation Moussa Dembele (Sunday Mirror) and Man City and Everton are set to go “head-to-head” to sign Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (Sunday Express). That sounds about as fair a contest as the time they went head-to-head for John Stones.
