The Argentinian is longtime friends with Barcelona’s legendary attacker and has urged him to transfer to the Premier League 

Pablo Zabaleta, a former Argentina national team squad-mate of Lionel Messi, believes Messi should transfer to Manchester City from Barcelona this summer.

Zabaleta spent the prime of his career at Manchester City and said the club “offer the ­perfect conditions” for Messi to thrive.

Messi has been rumoured to be on his way out of Spain in the near future as a financial crisis continues to take its toll on Barcelona.

What has Zabaleta said about Messi?

“If Lionel Messi ­decides to leave Barcelona and he wants to play in the best league then he has to experience the Premier League for himself,” Zabaleta told the Mirror. It is something that will ­interest him because every player I know always asks me what the Premier League is like.

“Leo has been in La Liga for so many years and I think it would be a huge ­attraction for him to experience English football.

“And Manchester City offer the ­perfect conditions.

“He knows Pep very well, he knows [sporting director] Txiki Begiristain and [chief executive] Ferran Soriano and also [Sergio] Aguero. It would be a big ­decision if Leo leaves ­Barcelona. But if that’s what he wants then it would be a good thing for him to go to a club that has people already there who can help him to settle.

“When you have been at one club for so long, moving ­somewhere new can be very strange.

“I am sure clubs like ­Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus would also be ­interested in signing him, but it is my opinion that City would be the best place to go after Barcelona.”