Ex-Man City boss reveals how he ‘accidentally’ bid £70m for Messi
Former Manchester City CEO, Garry Cook, has told of how he once bid £70million to sign Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi – by accident.
Cook worked at City between 2008 and 2011 after the club were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group, and was in charge of overseeing transfers.
With the takeover imminent, City were keen on making ambitious signings for their manager Mark Hughes, but Cook admits to making a monumental bid for the best player on Earth in 2008 after mishearing club chiefs over a conference call.
Then-owner Thaksin Shinawatra was still in charge at the time, and his number two Pairoj Piempongsant had been speaking to Cook and COO Paul Aldridge, agreeing that their transfer business had been getting ‘messy’.
‘Pairoj Piempongsant 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, got himself in a bit of trouble [over the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano saga], and 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 told of confusion between himself and Aldridge before submitting the offer and the Premier League approached him to confirm that their £70m bid – a huge sum at the time – was real.
‘Paul came to me afterwards: “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: “Garry, have you put in an offer for Lionel Messi? Seventy million pounds? Are you mad?”‘
Incredibly, Barcelona had told Richards that they would have considered the offer had it been genuine.
Messi ended up staying with Barcelona, where he has been for his entire career and has enjoyed immense success with.
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The Argentine has racked up a record six Ballons d’Or for his sensational performances that have helped Barcelona to ten La Liga triumphs and four Champions League successes.
City went on to secure the signature of another big star in Real Madrid’s Robinho – but the Brazilian made an infamous gaffe on arrival at the club by accidentally calling them Chelsea.