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Former Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has revealed the club tried to sign Lionel Messi on the same day that Sheikh Mansour completed his takeover.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Mansour completed his £200 million takeover of Manchester City in 2008 and immediately attempted to bring in some of the game’s biggest names, according to Hughes. The new owner targeted Messi, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to land the Argentina international, and eventually made Robinho the first signing of a new era at the club.
WHAT MARK HUGHES SAID
Hughes told William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ podcast, No Tippy Tappy Football: “The first day of the takeover being complete came as a surprise for me because I was out playing golf! I was playing with some of the staff because it was a day off, but I was getting these phone calls from Gary Cook, who was the CEO at the time, telling me that the takeover was happening and that they wanted a marquee signing to mark the new ownership of the club.
“They just asked me, ‘who do you want?’. They had a load of bids out for pretty much every top player in the world. They had just put all of these bids out to see if anyone would actually come back, but people forget that at that time, Man City were a mid-table Premier League club – mid-table to bottom if we’re honest. There weren’t that many takers because players were thinking, ‘Man City, who?’.
“They had all these bids out and nothing was happening, then all of a sudden they had a little nibble from Robinho and Real Madrid. We had to try to make it happen and I knew the Real Madrid coach at the time, Bernd Schuster, so I was on the phone to him asking if there was any chance of letting Robinho speak to us.
“It was a crazy day, there were bids going out for Lionel Messi and all sorts! We finally managed to get Robinho over the line which was a hell of a statement, and the rest is history. There’s probably a grain of truth in the rumour that Robinho thought he was actually signing for Manchester United. He certainly didn’t recognise me when he turned up, he was probably expecting to see Sir Alex Ferguson at the airport! He was probably a bit disappointed to say the least.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Mansour may not have been able to land Messi, but he has since brought a host of big names to the Etihad Stadium and invested heavily in new signings. Star players such as Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne were all brought to the club and established a period of dominance in the Premier League. The spending has continued since then, with Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish some of the club’s most expensive recent recruits.
WHAT NEXT FOR MAN CITY?
While City’s spending has delivered star players and plenty of success off the field, there are also problems facing the club. The Premier League champions have been charged with over 115 alleged breaches of financial fair play rules. A trial date of autumn 2024 has been set, with City potentially facing a points deduction if found guilty.
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