https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53913907
Lionel Messi hands in Barcelona transfer request: Where could he go next?
By Andy West
Author of 'Lionel Messi and the Art of Living'
Who wants to sign Lionel Messi?
Any club in the world, surely, would jump at the opportunity to recruit the Argentine superstar.
But his situation is complicated, and realistically only a small number of candidates have a chance of securing his signature.
Let's examine Messi's options.
Messi has been a keen follower of English football for many years, and has a strong knowledge of the Premier League if only because two of his closest friends - Sergio Aguero and Cesc Fabregas - have spent so long in England.
There's certainly a huge amount of logic to the idea that he will join Manchester City. Firstly for Pep Guardiola, of course, but also for the key backroom staff of Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, who were also previously alongside him at Barcelona.
The fact City are one of the few teams capable of meeting his wage expectations also helps, and on a football level Messi knows Guardiola would develop a team framework which allows him to excel - something he has been missing at Barcelona for the past few years.
According to reports in Spain, though, City might face serious competition from nearby, with national television network Cuatro claiming on Tuesday afternoon that Manchester United are making a serious attempt to lure the Argentine.
Some supporters may scoff at that notion considering United's recent reputation for blundering in the transfer market, but consider this: in March, American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers made major headlines by signing veteran quarterback Tom Brady, one of the greatest players in the sport's history.
Tampa's owners? The Glazer family. When they go big, they go really big.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal may also fancy the idea of launching an audacious bid, and cultural concerns that Messi's family would struggle to adapt to life in England are lessened by the fact his children already attend a British school on the outskirts of Barcelona.
