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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he wants Lionel Messi to end his career at Barcelona.
Guardiola signed a two-year contract extension with City on Thursday and immediately bonded with his former player, who came close to moving out last summer.
Messi’s contract ends next summer and he could sign pre-contracts with any club outside of Spain from January 1.
Guardiola said: “Messi is a Barcelona player. I said it a thousand times. As a fan, I want Leo to finish there.”
Argentine playmaker Messi looked ready to join City after submitting a transfer request in August, only for then-Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu to block the transfer.
Bartomeu then resigned in October, but Messi’s future remains uncertain.
“Your contract ends this year [season] and I don’t know what will happen in his mind, “Guardiola said.
Paris St-Germain has also been linked to the 33-year-old, but all the candidates in Barcelona’s presidential elections, to be held in January, have said it is a priority for them to persuade Messi to stay.
“I have great gratitude for Barcelona and what they have done for me,” said Guardiola, who worked with Messi when he ran the club from 2008 to 2012.
“At the quarry, as a player and coach, they gave me absolutely everything. Right now Messi is a Barcelona player and the transfer market is in June and July.
“We have incredible games and goals and things that we would like to achieve. That’s the only thing we have in mind. The rest, I can’t say anything.”
