Messi made it very clear just how unhappy he was at FCB. He implied he'd leave on a free.
That makes Barca vulnerable to a transfer bid.
Put yourself in Barca's shoes. What would you do if someone offered you £100m for a player that will likely leave for nothing in June, and will cost £100m in wages and bonuses this season. Is Messi worth losing c.£200m to Barca for 6 months when his heart is not in it?
It's worth City making a bid now but of course Barcelona could ignore it. Let them digest the financial and sporting implications for a couple of days. I think there's a chance they might sell him. I would if were them.
This can still technically happen without us getting involved or making a bid. In Spain, players pay their own release clauses or fees to terminate contracts. So if barca as a result of this found a change of heart, they could say, they allow the 700m to drop to 100m, out of gratitude for messi's contribution and loyalty. Messi pays it, we pay him a bonus or sptlread that over
his contract .
I honestly don't think it will, i think it is well and truly over.
But as i said before, i have been almost consistently wrong with this year's messi saga.