Pep Guardiola said Friday that only Lionel Messi knows if a move to Manchester City is a possibility next year after the Argentine reluctantly decided to stay at Barcelona this season. In an explosive interview earlier this month, Messi blasted Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, accusing him of not keeping his promise to allow him to leave for free at the end of the last campaign. Instead, Messi was forced to stay or face a court battle with the club he has played for his entire career. City were believed to be in the driving seat to sign the six-time Ballon d'Or winner if he left Catalonia.

"I don't have to explain anything. I think Leo explained quite well his feelings, I don't have anything to add," Guardiola said ahead of City's first game of the new season, away to Wolves on Monday. "He is a Barcelona player, the club I love and (I have) nothing more to say." Messi will be able to leave Barca for free next summer but his former coach Guardiola, who was Barcelona's most successful-ever manager with 14 trophies in four years between 2008 and 2012, is in the dark over whether he is keen to come to Manchester. "I don't know," he said. "I cannot talk about the intentions from other people."