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Hot Transfer Window Gossip: Man City 'offer £100m for Messi', Barcelona 'want Costa'

One of the bad things about having Pep Guardiola as your manager is that your defence might be a bit shambolic for a while. But one of the good things about having Pep as your manager is that there is always a chance you might sign Lionel Messi.

Or, at least, be linked with signing him, which is pretty exciting in itself. So today’s story in the Sun that the Citizens are ready to “fork out a world record fee for the Argentine superstar” will offer the club’s fans some respite from City’s displays on the pitch.

This is, of course, a story that resurfaces whenever City have a bad result, and sometimes when they’ve had a good result. The gist of it is simple: City have told Barcelona they will pay £100m for Messi, but the Catalan giants have given no indication they want to sell him. That’s it really.

The tabloid does add some flowery extra details, such as that “executives” from both clubs held “negotiations” last month to determine if a world record transfer was possible – even adding that the conversation has since been described as “positive” by a City “source”.

But don’t expect Messi to be lining up in the club’s FA Cup fourth round trip to Crystal Palace or Bolton Wanderers at the end of the month just yet.

There may be a few new faces in Guardiola’s side by then though. The Star says the club’s Emirati rulers will respond to poor performances in the only way they know – by giving Pep even more money to spend.

The manager’s “war chest” will reportedly be increased to £250m, with Alexis Sanchez, Koke, Virgil Van Dijk and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang among the players on his wish list.

You can also stick another few quid on that pile for when Pep offloads Claudio Bravo – an outcome that seems increasingly likely according to the Mail.

Guardiola is already said to be scoping out replacements for the mis-saving goalkeeper, with Benfica’s Ederson, Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford and Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen being considered. There’s also an English guy at Torino who might be available next season.

The good news for Chelsea fans is that Diego Costa may not be going to China after all, but the bad news is that he might sign for Barcelona or Atletico Madrid instead.

The Independent says the two Spanish clubs are interested in “taking advantage” of the uncertainty over the striker’s Stamford Bridge future by making a move for him this month. They won’t offer as much money as Tianjin Quanjian though.

Elsewhere, Manchester United have failed in an attempt to secure first option on 16-year-old Brazilian sensation Vinicius Junior (Independent), Watford are close to sealing a loan swoop for Fiorentina’s former West Ham forward Mauro Zarate (Mirror) and Christian Benteke’s agent say he is “100 per cent committed” to the Crystal Palace “project” and has received no offers from PSG (Standard). Crystal Palace have a project??

@darlingkevin