Lionel Messi: Five options for Barcelona icon this summer – join Pep Guardiola at Man City, reignite C

Crisis is a word that gets used too readily when a team hits some bad form but one is developing rapidly at Barcelona. After losing their LaLiga title to bitter rivals Real Madrid, they were served up a Champions League humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich. Getty Images The defeat is one of the darkest days in Barca’s recent history Barca were beaten 8-2 by the German giants in Lisbon and now the Camp Nou club is in disarray. It’s inevitable their manager Quique Setien will get the sack – losing by six goals simply isn’t accepted at Barcelona. They’re in danger of losing players too, with defender Gerard Pique volunteering to leave in a bid to help his club rebuild. However, there are reports that Lionel Messi, arguably football’s greatest ever player, wants out of Catalonia. This cannot happen if Barca have plans to become a dominant force again but he cuts a figure fed up of life there. AFP OR LICENSORS Letting Messi go could finish Barcelona off Back in July, Messi fumed at his ‘weak’ teammates as Barca lost out on the title to Real Madrid. He said: “We didn’t expect to finish in this way, but it sums up the year for us. “We are a weak team who can be beaten with enough intensity and enthusiasm. We have lost a lot of points which we shouldn’t have done [and] been very inconsistent. “We need to be self-critical, starting with the players but also across the entire club. We are Barcelona, and we are obliged to win every game. “Roma, Liverpool… the fans are running out of patience because we’re not giving them anything.” Any manager with two brain cells to rub together would take Messi, 33, in a heartbeat but where will he be playing next season? talkSPORT.com has drawn up five options the Barcelona icon has this summer. Getty Images – Getty Messi looks like he’s hand enough at Barca but what should he do this summer? Manchester City It’s difficult to say when Messi was at his best in his career, such has been his incredible brilliance on a consistent basis for over a decade. But he’d probably say his happiest memories came when Pep Guardiola was in charge of Barca. And the rumours suggest Messi is open to the idea of joining Manchester City this summer, with talkSPORT’s Darren Bent suggesting Messi and Guardiola have a father/son style relationship. It’s a move that would benefit Messi and Man City as it would end the player’s supposed Barca nightmare, while the Premier League club need to take drastic measures this summer having lost their status as English champions in spectacular fashion with Liverpool finishing 18 points above them in the table. Getty Images If there’s anyone who can get Messi to come to the Premier League, it’s Guardiola Inter Milan The Messi vs Ronaldo debate just isn’t quite the same when the two aren’t playing against each other on the pitch. But the two greats could face each other once more with Serie A side Inter Milan being linked with an audacious bid for Messi. The speculatoin surrounding Messi and a Serie A move had been dismissed as a ‘utopian’ fantasy by Inter’s CEO Beppe Moratta – things are very different now though. Getty Messi and Ronaldo last faced each other in May 2018 when the latter was still at Real Madrid Paris Saint-Germain Messi may be financially out of reach for the likes of Inter but PSG could certainly afford him. The French club have shown they love a superstar signing and will probably lose Kylian Mbappe in the future. Signing Messi could also help Neymar stay at the club and it would certainly help their bid to win a first ever Champions League title, providing they don’t win it this season of course. It was thought Neymar wanted a move back to Barca to reunite with Messi but perhaps it could be the other way round Al-Sadd/MLS/China He’s certainly good enough to be playing in any of Europe’s big five leagues but at 33, perhaps Messi has one eye on retirement. And when a player enters the twilight years of his playing career, it’s time to get in as much money in the bank as possible. MLS or Chinese Super League clubs would happily have him but maybe Messi could be tempted to reunite with ex-Barca teammate Xavi, who’s in charge of Qatari side Al-Sadd. However, Xavi is one of the names who’s been linked with the Barcelona job. Getty Images – Getty Messi and Xavi enjoyed great success as teammates Stay at Barcelona This is one of biggest crisis Barcelona are experiencing in recent times but if you asked all professional players if they’d like to move there now, about 99 per cent of them would say yes. Barca is still a massive club regardless of the 8-2 defeat and the situation can be turned around. And no matter how angry Messi may be, he’ll have an affinity for the club that’s given him so much. He’s been with Barca since he was 13 years old and doesn’t know much else. Getty – Pool It would be a big call for Messi to turn his back on Barca, even though they’re in terrible form,
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