Here are the Manchester City evening headlines for Sunday August 30.
Blow for City in Messi pursuit
La Liga have dealt a blow to Manchester City’s hopes of signing Lionel Messi – by suggesting that any club wanting to secure his services may have to pay a £632million release clause fee to Barcelona.
The Argentinian’s legal team insist that his contract allows him to leave for free if he asks to move within a certain time frame, while the club say that the date has already passed and so he will not be available for free until his deal is up next summer.
Barcelona are keen to keep their talisman, who failed to report for testing on Sunday prior to Monday’s return to pre-season training.
You can read more about the complicated transfer saga here.
Guardiola to quarantine before pre-season
City manager Pep Guardiola is likely to head into two weeks of quarantine before the start of pre-season training.
The Spaniard is currently in his homeland – which is on the list of countries requiring a period of self-isolation from all arrivals to the UK.
Thus he is not expected to be at the training ground this week – and some of City’s players on international duty will be away as well.
Find out more about the pre-season arrangements here.
Rooney wants Foden to play more
Wayne Rooney says he would not pick Phil Foden in the England squad if the European Championship was imminent – and says he needs more first-team football before he can be an essential part of the Three Lions’ side.
20-year-old Foden is expected to get more opportunities at the Etihad next season following the departure of David Silva, and was called up to Gareth Southgate’s squad for the first time for the forthcoming Nations League fixtures against Iceland and Denmark.
"Foden is a ball-player who picks up some really good positions and offers something a little different from normal English midfielders,” the former United star wrote in his column for the Times.
"I’m sure, if he is given more game time by Pep Guardiola, he will flourish. But he does need to play more. Despite his talent and potential, if the Euros started tomorrow I wouldn’t take him because he simply hasn’t done enough to prove himself yet.”
