Manchester City consider Lionel Messi’s €300m release clause

Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola has rekindled the idea of reuniting with Lionel Messi at the Etihad and is now pondering whether to trigger the Barcelona star’s staggering €300m (£275m) release clause, claims C+ France, via Sport.

Barcelona have endured a disastrous summer after losing Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain for a world record £193m fee and it could be about to get a whole lot worse for the Spanish giants.

It was announced at the start of July that Messi had agreed a new four-year deal with Barcelona to put questions about his future to bed, but it has emerged in the last week that the 30-year-old has still not signed the contract.

As it stands, Messi has entered the final 12 months of his existing deal and now Guardiola is plotting a sensational swoop that would completely shatter the world record sum for a player for the second time this summer.

Barcelona would be powerless in preventing Messi leaving if his clause was met this summer and that would cap a truly disastrous summer for the club, who have so far failed in their attempts to sign replacements for Neymar.

Messi has scored more goals than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues since August 2009.