Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak once insisted that the Premier League side had moved to try and tempt Lionel Messi to the club, only for City themselves to deny it.
Messi is again being linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium amid poor form at Barcelona and general uncertainty at the club he has been affiliated to for 20 years.
Friday's humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League is being seen as a new low for the Catalan club, who crashed out of the same competition with dramatic collapses against Liverpool and Roma in the previous two seasons.
Messi has also been left exasperated at his club's second place finish in La Liga, which was won by bitter rivals Real Madrid, and is now said to be considering a new challenge.
Barca will almost certainly sack manager Quique Setien in the coming days, but it remains to be seen whether Messi will be satisfied by whomever they decide to appoint in his place.
There are now plenty of claims that Messi could look to team up with his former Barca boss Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, but if he is to do that then he will have to change his mind over a decision he made some four years ago, according to Al-Mubarak.
Speaking to press in the Middle East back in 2016, Al-Mubarak said that that club had tried to bring Messi to Manchester to team him up with Guardiola again.
“We asked Guardiola to talk to him, we offered him triple the salary he has at Barcelona, but he never accepted,” said the City chairman.
However, the club quickly insisted that that wasn't the case, with a City spokesman simply saying: "We deny the veracity of these quotes."
But if Al Mubarak was right, could it be second time lucky for his club?
