Rainy Manchester ideal for Messi, jokes Aguero

LONDON (Reuters) - It rains hard and often and is a far cry from the beaches of Barcelona, yet Argentina striker Sergio Aguero believes world player of the year Lionel Messi would find Manchester to his liking.

Rainy Manchester ideal for Messi, jokes Aguero

(Reuters)





Manchester City striker Aguero said he had extolled the virtues of England's north-west city to his compatriot and Barcelona forward who is the most valuable player in the game.

Messi, 28, has expressed no desire to leave Barca, where he is contracted to until 2019, but Abu-Dhabi owned Manchester City, backed by the billions of Sheikh Mansour, are one of the few clubs who could afford to buy him.

"He already knows there's no beach!," Aguero, who has scored 120 goals in 185 appearances during his four-and-a-half years at the Etihad, told Sky Sports.

"We play every three days so we just eat, rest between games -- so the weather is not really that important.

"So I told him that Manchester is ideal as a city because you stay at home all day, you play every three days, we can eat, we can meet up, drink Mate (a traditional Argentinian drink) and play football together."

Real Madrid would also have the resources to sign Messi but Barca would never sell a player of his stature to their arch-rivals.

According to the latest valuations released by Football-Observatory.com. Messi's transfer value is put at 251 million euros ($271 million), nearly 100 million euros more than the next on their list, Brazil striker Neymar.

Earlier this month Messi won the FIFA Ballon d'Or (world player of year) award for a fifth time.













($1 = 0.9246 euros)





(Reporting by Justin Palmer, editing by Ed Osmond)


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world