Manchester City's hierarchy have always believed Lionel Messi would stay at Barcelona for the rest of his career... but that might have just changed.
The bombshell has been dropped on Tuesday night as AP report that Barcelona have confirmed that Messi has sent documents to the club informing them of his decision to leave this summer.
His decision comes following the Catalonian's embarrassing 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and the hiring of Ronald Koeman as manager.
It's reported that the Argentine will no longer attend training with teammates, his decision is 'final' and that he will now look to terminate his contract. Messi does have a clause in his deal that allows him to leave for free at the end of the season, though the date for that clause is said to have passed it's said that Messi's entourage believes it has been extended due to the elongated campaign.
This has led to the once unfathomable possibility that Messi could actually join City this summer, in what would perhaps be the most shocking transfer in football history.
Pep Guardiola enjoyed his best spell as a manager with Messi in his Barcelona side, while the Argentinian wizard and the Spanish super club arguably played the best football ever seen with Pep in charge.
With that in mind, we have taken a look at what Messi has had to say about Pep down the years.
And anyone looking for clues as to whether a reunion is on the cards would be encouraged by his declaration last October that Guardiola was the best manager he has worked for.
"Guardiola is the best of all," he said. "Luis Enrique is a very close [second].
"I was fortunate to live many different stages of my life, but I think the Guardiola era was one of my best moments."
Messi also praised the way Guardiola helped develop and change his game while at Barcelona, when he was shifted to a central position ahead of a match against Real Madrid.
He added: "I was called up the day before the game, was made to go to Guardiola’s office at the Ciutat Esportiva, and I was told he had been watching Madrid’s games a lot, as he did with every opponent.
"He had been talking with (Barca assistant boss) Tito Vilanova and they had thought about me playing as a false nine. He was going to put Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry on the outside, and I was going to play as the false centre-forward.
"I wasn’t going to stay there, but rather come out and join up with the central midfield. The idea was that Madrid’s centre-backs would follow me out, and the two fast wingers that we had would go around the back.
"In fact, one of Henry’s goals was like that. It was a surprise for us and for Madrid. I remember that we had a lot of possession, and we always had an extra man in the middle of the park.
Have your say in our Man City fixtures survey:
"I’d never played as a centre-forward, but I knew that position because it meant coming through from deep to get forward, without being a static number nine. It wasn’t a big change for me. I’d been playing on the outside for years, so I knew what that position was about."
So, Messi is full of admiration for Pep’s managerial efforts, style and success. But what about their relationship?
"We had a fantastic relationship when we were together, but we’re not in contact anymore,” he said in 2015.
Like an old flame then. Just maybe, could they get back together?
