Man City ‘accidentally’ made Lionel Messi bid before signing that shook football
Manchester City’s accidental bid for Lionel Messi whilst he was at Barcelona has been revealed. The hilarious story involves a huge mix-up between former Man City CEO Garry Cook and a member of his staff in 2008. Man City made an accidental attempt to sign Barcelona’s Lionel Messi for £35millionAFP And, mistake or not, it appears Barcelona weren’t best pleased about their attempt to pry the Argentine maestro away from the Nou Camp for a low-ball offer. Speaking on Business of Sport, ex-Premier League player and manager Mark Bowen explained: “It was on deadline day and Garry Cook had said to Mark [Hughes – ex-Man City boss], ‘Right, the owners want to make a statement’. “At one time we had £30million plus for [Dimitar] Berbatov, Robinho, Frank Ribery, because they were just chucking out £30-35m at which one would bite. As it turned out, it was Robinho. “While all this is going on, Garry Cook’s in London and he’s got different people on the board ringing around. “All of a sudden they get this thing through from the president of Barcelona and apparently Man City have offered £35m for Lionel Messi. “We get to the bottom of it and what actually happened was somebody had turned around, probably Garry Cook, and said ‘Jesus Christ, this is getting messy’. He said ‘messy’ and somebody has literally sent an offer to Barcelona for Lionel Messi. “The president has come back and gone, ‘Who the f*** do you think you are? You think you can buy Messi off us? No chance, please back away’.” Garry Cook was Man City’s former CEO from May 2008, taking over from the departed Alistair Mackintosh. Cook’s initial task was player recruitment and he oversaw the signings of Tal Ben Haim, Brazilian striker Jo, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Cook also penned deals for Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Shay Given and Nigel de Jong. Barca chief Joan Laporta was not happy about Man City’s mistaken attempt to sign MessiGetty PA:Press AssociationGarry Cook, left, with former Man City manager Mark Hughes, right in 2008[/caption] In September 2008, when the Abu Dhabi United Group took over Man City, Cook then completed the transfer of Robinho, who joined for a then-British record of £32.5m from Real Madrid. It has been announced this year that Robinho will serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape, as part of a group sexual assault on a woman whilst he was playing for AC Milan. The Robinho transfer record stood for three years, until Liverpool decided to pay £35m to sign Andy Carroll from Newcastle. Both deals are widely seen as some of the worst transfer decisions in Premier League history. However, the Carroll record lasted only a mere hours before Chelsea decided to smash the highest transfer fee paid by a British club by landing Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50m. The Spaniard was also seen as a flop at Stamford Bridge, where he was regularly sidelined with injury, with history showing his peak years came in a Reds shirt. Robinho’s arrival came just hours after City’s takeover was confirmedGetty Liverpool replaced the outgoing Torres with record-signing Carroll and a certain Uruguayan by the name of Luis Suarez – for a mere £22.8mGetty Torres broke Liverpool hearts to sign for Chelsea, where he was a shadow of the striker he had been for the Reds – but he still achieved his trophy goals by lifting the Champions League with the Bluesgetty Although, El Nino did go on to play a crucial role in the London club’s surprise Champions League title victory in the 2011/12 season – scoring a stoppage-time goal against Barcelona to help win the semi-final – and also lifted the Europa League and FA Cup with the Blues. Bowen, who hosts the Business of Sport podcast, played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, West Ham and Charlton Athletic. After retiring in 1999, he went on to manage the U23 team at Crystal Palace in 2001 and was the caretaker manager at Queens Park Rangers. In 2019, he was at the helm at Reading for a year and then took interim charge of AFC Wimbledon in 2022.
Manchester City’s accidental bid for Lionel Messi whilst he was at Barcelona has been revealed.
The hilarious story involves a huge mix-up between former Man City CEO Garry Cook and a member of his staff in 2008.
And, mistake or not, it appears Barcelona weren’t best pleased about their attempt to pry the Argentine maestro away from the Nou Camp for a low-ball offer.
Speaking on Business of Sport, ex-Premier League player and manager Mark Bowen explained: “It was on deadline day and Garry Cook had said to Mark [Hughes – ex-Man City boss], ‘Right, the owners want to make a statement’.
“At one time we had £30million plus for [Dimitar] Berbatov, Robinho, Frank Ribery, because they were just chucking out £30-35m at which one would bite. As it turned out, it was Robinho.
“While all this is going on, Garry Cook’s in London and he’s got different people on the board ringing around.
“All of a sudden they get this thing through from the president of Barcelona and apparently Man City have offered £35m for Lionel Messi.
“We get to the bottom of it and what actually happened was somebody had turned around, probably Garry Cook, and said ‘Jesus Christ, this is getting messy’. He said ‘messy’ and somebody has literally sent an offer to Barcelona for Lionel Messi.
“The president has come back and gone, ‘Who the f*** do you think you are? You think you can buy Messi off us? No chance, please back away’.”
Garry Cook was Man City’s former CEO from May 2008, taking over from the departed Alistair Mackintosh.
Cook’s initial task was player recruitment and he oversaw the signings of Tal Ben Haim, Brazilian striker Jo, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Cook also penned deals for Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Shay Given and Nigel de Jong.
In September 2008, when the Abu Dhabi United Group took over Man City, Cook then completed the transfer of Robinho, who joined for a then-British record of £32.5m from Real Madrid.
It has been announced this year that Robinho will serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape, as part of a group sexual assault on a woman whilst he was playing for AC Milan.
The Robinho transfer record stood for three years, until Liverpool decided to pay £35m to sign Andy Carroll from Newcastle.
Both deals are widely seen as some of the worst transfer decisions in Premier League history.
However, the Carroll record lasted only a mere hours before Chelsea decided to smash the highest transfer fee paid by a British club by landing Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50m.
The Spaniard was also seen as a flop at Stamford Bridge, where he was regularly sidelined with injury, with history showing his peak years came in a Reds shirt.
Although, El Nino did go on to play a crucial role in the London club’s surprise Champions League title victory in the 2011/12 season – scoring a stoppage-time goal against Barcelona to help win the semi-final – and also lifted the Europa League and FA Cup with the Blues.
Bowen, who hosts the Business of Sport podcast, played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, West Ham and Charlton Athletic.
After retiring in 1999, he went on to manage the U23 team at Crystal Palace in 2001 and was the caretaker manager at Queens Park Rangers.
In 2019, he was at the helm at Reading for a year and then took interim charge of AFC Wimbledon in 2022.
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