Former Manchester City attacker Robinho has revealed club owner Sheikh Mansour had plans to buy Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
Robinho left Real Madrid in 2008 to sign for City.
He recalled to the Daily Mail: "When I arrived, Micah Richards told me the world would now start taking City seriously. Before that people did not respect City. But now the Blues were coming. I spoke a few times with the owner Sheik Mansour. He told me he was going to go big to get Kaka and Lionel Messi. Kaka was close. But Messi...
"I think Messi was beyond them. But I believed in the project. The Sheik had the ambition to create the best team in the world and now look at them. They have the best manager in the world in Pep Guardiola and can go toe-to-toe with anyone."
Source: tribalfootball.com