Pep Guardiola: I never attempted to contact Messi or Neymar for City

In September, Mundo Deportivo, a local newspaper in Barcelona, ran a front-page story which claimed that Guardiola had tried to persuade Barcelona's star attackers Messi and Neymar to join him at Manchester City. The story said these discussions were made after City’s CEO, Ferran Soriano, met up with Messi’s representatives during the summer.

“I called Thiago at the time [in 2013] because his representative was my brother and we managed to sign him for Bayern. We saw a good opportunity.”

"A couple of years ago I called Neymar to sign him for Barca. Sandro Rossell, the president, saw an opportunity to do it and we phoned him up. When I was in New York it was not clear if Real Madrid would sign him and I called his father to see if there was a chance. I spoke to him and said, 'If you have a chance I think you should go to Barcelona' and you can call Neymar's dad if you want. He decided to come to Barcelona in the end. 

“If you are talking about this summer, I never called Messi. I never called Neymar, Luis Suarez, Busquets, Iniesta, I didn't call anybody,” Guardiola clarified.

"In the case of Leo I really wish him to play here [at Barca] and finish his career here. Play here for a long time. But maybe he will think, 'okay I want to go play somewhere else' because maybe he wants his kids to speak English or live a different experience, like has happened to many of us.

“Maybe it could happen, but if he decides to go and it happens, there would be a list of seven or eight clubs that would want to sign him, and it would be down to him. Messi will decide where to go.”