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Manchester City once made a £30million bid for Argentine superstar Lionel Messi – by accident!

A breakdown in communication between club officials on the day that Sheikh Mansour completed his £210m takeover of the club in August 2009 was behind the sensational offer to Barcelona for the best player in the world.

Barcelona rejected the proposal – and within hours the Blues had agreed the £32m capture of Brazilian star Robinho from Real Madrid.

The extraordinary episode has been revealed in a new book detailing the history of the Premier League champions.

(Image: Getty)

Former City chief executive Garry Cook details the mix-up in ‘The Manchester City Years’ by Gary James.

City had made already made a failed bid for Fernando Torres and had attempted to hijack Manchester United’s deal with Spurs for Dimitar Berbatov.

But senior club officials based in Manchester, London and Abu Dhabi were formulating Sheikh Mansour’s plans by telephone.

And Cook explains: “He (an executive) made a comment like ‘it’s all getting messy.’

“Via the telephones and other communication lines, this somehow translated into ‘get Messi.’

“An offer was made for Lionel Messi of about £30million. Needless to say, it was rejected.”

*** Manchester The City Years is on sale now for £25.