“Who do you think you're?” - When ex-Man City assistant revealed details of Barcelona response after hilarious mix up that led to bid for Lionel Messi

Former Manchester City assistant coach Mark Bowen, who worked under Mark Hughes, revealed in December 2024 that they sent a stunning offer to sign Lionel Messi from Barcelona. A mix-up at the Premier League club led to an offer that forced the Catalan club to rebuff the offer without any consideration.

Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, Bowen said that Manchester City were making offers to sign players in 2008, when they accidentally made an offer to bring Messi to the club. A miscommunication between the club's CEO and a club official led to a £35 million offer to sign the Argentine from Barcelona. He said (via Metro):

"It was almost deadline day, and Gary Cook has said to Mark [Hughes] 'right, the owners want to make a statement'. And at one time, we had £30 million+, £30 million for [Dimitar] Berbatov, £30 million for Robinho, £30 million for Franck Ribery, because they were just chucking out [these offers] to clubs around Europe, bids of £30-35 million to see which one would bite. And as it turned out, it was Robinho. Now here’s a funny story."

"So while all this is going on, Gary Cook is in London, he’s got different people on the board and they are all chasing down things, and all of a sudden they get this thing through from the president of Barcelona saying Manchester City have apparently offered £35 million for Lionel Messi. So we get to the bottom of it. What actually happened, someone had turned around, probably Gary Cook, and said 'Jesus Christ, this is getting messy'. So someone has sent an offer to Messi. The president has come back saying 'who do you think you are? Please back away'."

Lionel Messi had just finished third in the Ballon d'Or race in 2007, behind Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. He finished second in the 2008 race, behind the Portuguese superstar, and Fernandes Torres right behind him.

Accent let to bid for Barcelona star Lionel Messi, said ex-Manchester City CEO

Former Manchester City CEO Gary Cook spoke to The Athletic in 2019, revealing that the Premier League side had made a bid for Messi because of the former owner's right-hand man, Pairoj Piempongsant. He said:

"So picture the scene. There's Paul with his London accent: 'Pairoj, you got to tell me what we're doing, it's getting out of control'. Pairoj was lying on a chaise lounge, getting a massage, and shouting: 'Yes, yes, yes! Very messy, messy, it's getting messy.' Something got lost in translation and - on my daughter's eyesight, this is the truth - that was misheard as 'We've got to get Messi'."

Lionel Messi was linked with a move to Manchester City in 2020 and 2021, but the Barcelona legend did not make a move to the Premier League.