Former Manchester City CEO Garry Cook revealed that during his time with the club, they accidentally bid 80 million euros for Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, back in 2008.
He said the club were looking to make world class signings as a beginning under new owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group,
But as Garry listed several players, he and Thaksin Shinawatra’s number two at the time, Pairoj Piempongsant ended up confusing one another.
“Pairoj was getting heated,” Cook told The Athletic.
“The phone was on the table and he was speaking to Paul Aldridge, who had previously been with West Ham and got himself in a bit of trouble over the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano saga, and who was also part of Thaksin’s world.
“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.
Cook himself ended up confused which led to a call from the Premier League office to see if the bid was, in fact, real.
“Paul came to me afterwards and said to me: Garry, this is getting confusing, I don’t know what we are doing here.
“I said: Put the offer in, let’s see what we come up with.
“Then Dave Richards called me the next day from the Premier League office and asked me: Garry, have you put in an offer for Lionel Messi? Seventy million pounds? Are you mad?”
Cook later revealed that Barcelona had told them they would have considered the offer if it had been genuine.
After all, Messi was only 20 years old at the time, and his asking price was not as huge as he is in 2019.