In the football world there are stories that people will never forget, and one of the most shocking stories in modern football was the moment Lionel Messi, the greatest player of all time, reached a breaking point and decided he wanted to leave Barcelona. Everybody remembers that summer of 2020 like a drama movie, a moment when the whole world stopped, because nobody ever imagined that Messi would one day want to walk away from the Camp Nou. But deep inside Lionel Messi’s heart, there was anger, frustration, and disappointment burning like fire, and it pushed him to do something the football world never expected. Lionel Messi wanted to leave Barcelona, and not only leave Barcelona, but he was ready to join Manchester City and reunite with Pep Guardiola, the coach who brought out the best version of him and turned him into a football monster, a genius who destroyed every defence in Europe.
The new book by Marti Perarnau, titled God Save Pep, has now revealed the full truth behind that unbelievable moment. The whole drama started when Messi, tired of everything happening inside Barcelona, decided enough was enough. He wanted out and he wanted to go immediately. Everything in his life at Barcelona had changed. The club was no longer the calm, stable and organised place where he grew from a small shy boy to the best player to ever touch a football. Barcelona became a club of confusion, politics, failed signings, big mistakes in the boardroom, and humiliation on the pitch. And Messi could not take it anymore. He had carried the club on his shoulders for years and he was tired. It was too much pressure, too many expectations and too much drama around him.
So Messi did the unthinkable, he sent the famous burofax, the document that shook the football world. It became the number one trending topic everywhere, people were screaming, crying, and asking how this was possible. Barcelona fans did not understand what was happening. Real Madrid fans were celebrating. The whole world waited and watched. Messi’s anger was not small. It was fire. He demanded to cancel his contract and walk away from Barcelona immediately. Nobody could believe it.
But behind the scenes there was something even bigger happening. When Messi decided he wanted to leave, he already knew where he wanted to go. The book reveals that Messi wanted to move to Manchester City. He wanted to play again under Pep Guardiola, the only manager in football who truly understood him, controlled his talent, and used it in a system that made him unstoppable. Messi wanted to feel happy again. He believed Manchester City would give him the football life he missed. Messi did not hide it. He asked his friend Sergio Aguero about Pep Guardiola’s contract at City. He wanted to know if Pep would still be there long enough for him to join.
Aguero then sent a WhatsApp message to Guardiola telling him Messi was interested. And that message changed everything. Messi and Pep started talking directly and the conversation was emotional, honest and deep. Messi later travelled to Barcelona to meet Guardiola face-to-face in Pep’s house, not for business talk only, but as two people who respected each other deeply and shared powerful history together. Pep Guardiola loved Messi like a son and Messi trusted Pep more than any manager he ever worked with.
They sat down together and discussed many things. Guardiola told Messi about life in Manchester. He warned him that the training in City was very hard and intense, maybe even harder than Barcelona. He told him about the cold weather and the rain. He wanted Messi to understand everything before making a final decision. Guardiola did not want Messi to come blindly. But even after hearing all of that, Messi remained strong. He told Guardiola that he wanted to leave Barcelona. He was done, he was tired, and he wanted to start a new chapter.
It looked like the transfer of the century was about to happen. Manchester City fans already started dreaming. Barcelona fans were afraid. The board of Barcelona panicked. The situation became a football earthquake. But then everything became complicated. Messi discovered that he could not leave Barcelona legally because his request came after the deadline that allowed him to cancel his contract. Barcelona refused to let him go unless someone paid his release clause, a shocking €700 million. No club in the world could pay that. So the deal collapsed. Everything Messi dreamed of disappeared like smoke.
The whole situation hurt Messi so much that he had to face reality. He gave the exclusive interview to GOAL where he cried from pain inside his heart but told the world he would stay for one more season because he did not want to take Barcelona to court. Messi stayed for one more season, playing with pain in his soul while Barcelona continued to struggle. And when the season ended, his contract expired. Barcelona wanted to renew him but they were drowning inside La Liga financial rules and they could not register his new deal. So the club that promised him love forever was the same club that pushed him out in the most painful way. Messi did not get to join Manchester City. Instead, he joined Paris Saint-Germain and left Barcelona crying.
This new book also reminds the world that the author Marti Perarnau knows Guardiola extremely well because he followed him closely during a whole season at Bayern Munich while writing the famous book Pep Confidential. So what he revealed about the Messi-City drama is not gossip, it is true information from deep inside
Football fans still argue today. If Messi had joined Manchester City, would football history have changed? Would he and Haaland destroy every team in the world? Would Guardiola win the Champions League earlier with Messi? Would the Premier League become unstoppable for years? Nobody will ever know, because the transfer did not happen. But everybody knows one thing for sure — Messi really wanted to play for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola wanted him too.
And today Messi is at Inter Miami, enjoying football again with less pressure and more peace. Guardiola is still at Manchester City, winning trophies and dominating football. The two of them are legends in different places but connected forever by history, memories and the unbelievable moment when Messi almost became a Manchester City player.
Sometimes football gives us surprises that happen. Sometimes football gives us surprises that don’t happen. And sometimes the biggest transfers in football history remain in the land of “almost”. The world will never forget that summer when Lionel Messi packed his bags and got ready to leave Barcelona and become a Manchester City superstar, only for the contract laws and Barcelona politics to stop it. Fans will talk about it for decades, because football has never been the same since the day Lionel Messi sent that burofax and shocked the whole planet.
