When Pep Guardiola discussed a Premier League switch with Lionel Messi, he warned him about what was to come.
There would be intense scrutiny from the press.
Rain would fall by the bucketload.
But most worrisome of all was the existence of Sean Dyche’s Burnley.
In ‘The Pep Revolution’, published last year, it is revealed how Messi reached out to Guardiola in August 2020 about a potential transfer to Manchester City.
The pair, who enjoyed four trophy-laden years together at Barcelona, enjoyed a six-hour conversation as Guardiola got to the bottom of why Messi was keen to reunite.
Guardiola even told Messi things may not be the same given he had not managed the World Cup winner in eight years, but the Argentinian superstar supposedly remained adamant.
Sadly the move never eventuated, as Messi remained at Barcelona until the summer of 2021 when he joined Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent.
But rumours had evidently done the rounds regarding Messi and City, so Dyche sought to get to the bottom of the matter at a Premier League meeting, where all managers would be present.
As Dyche recalled, the meeting was held just after Covid had died down, meaning the managers were allowed to mix with one another.
The former Clarets boss was getting a cup of tea alongside Steve Bruce, who was in charge of Newcastle at the time, when Guardiola came up alongside them.
It led to an all-time interaction that left Bruce ‘crying’ with laughter.
Messi and Guardiola led Barca through their greatest periodGetty Together, the pair won an impressive 14 trophies at the Spanish giantsGetty“I said, ‘What was that thing about Lionel Messi,'” Dyche said on talkSPORT.
“He (Guardiola) goes, ‘Sean, Steve, I tell you this. Lionel, he said no way can he come to Manchester City. Because I tell Lionel it rains. It rains and rains. And when it stops raining, it rains again.’
“Then he goes, ‘Lionel, on a Monday night, you have to go to Burnley, Sean’s team. And they go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.’ Brucey was crying!”
Dyche wasn’t one to shy away from Guardiola’s hilarious description of his team, either.
“I went, ‘That’s exactly what we’re going to do, Pep,'” Dyche said.
“‘You warned him correctly.’ Me and Brucey were crying, honestly. It was genius. Pep, brilliant.”
talkSPORTDyche could barely contain his laughter when recounting the story[/caption]Dyche was also left thoroughly amused at the thought of Messi gracing Turf Moor, a stadium which boasts a capacity of 21,944.
“Imagine that, his face turning up at Turf Moor going, ‘What on earth?,'”Dyche said.
“Absolutely smashing it down with rain, wind blowing across and knocking you over.”
Under Dyche, Burnley weren’t renowned as a team that played an attractive style of football.
Using a 4-4-2 formation, Dyche’s Burnley had a reputation for being incredibly physical and playing long balls across the park.
Despite the perceived ugliness of their way of playing, the results were inarguable as Dyche kept Burnley in the Premier League for six seasons until he was sacked in 2022.
GettyDyche was in charge of Burnley for an impressive 425 games, winning 149 of those[/caption]He even led the Clarets to an unlikely seventh-placed finish in the 2017/18 season, which secured the club a spot in the qualifying stage of the Europa League.
After Dyche departed Burnley, he went on to manage Everton, but was axed after nearly two years in the job last January.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Pep Guardiola gave Lionel Messi transfer warning about Sean Dyche that had Steve Bruce ‘crying’ )
Also on site :