When Man City players were convinced Ronaldo and Messi would move to Etihad

With sensational striker Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez set to join the squad for the next season, Man City fans ask if Premier League can handle the deadly duo.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Having won their fourth Premier League title in five years, Manchester City has become a force to reckon with in European football. Although the Sky Blues missed out on their shot at Champions League glory after losing to Real Madrid in a thrilling semi-final encounter earlier this month, Pep Guardiola's side appears to be in the driving seat to continue bagging silverware.

Image Credit: Instagram

With sensational striker Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez set to join the squad for the next season, City fans ask if Premier League can handle the deadly duo who will play along with Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan, etc.

But imagine if Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi had joined Man City - in a team that already had the legendary Sergio Aguero - how many trophied would the club have added to its cabinet? If legendary right-back Pablo Zabaleta's revelation a few years ago is to be believed, then there were at least jokes in the dressing room about the possibility of the two greatest footballers of this generation moving to Etihad, especially after the 2008 takeover.

Image Credit: Getty Images

The Sky Blues became one of the wealthiest clubs in football overnight when billionaire Sheikh Mansour purchased the club 14 years ago. City wasted no time in signalling their intentions as they smashed the British transfer record to sign Robinho for 32.5 million pounds.

This was only the beginning of several other huge signings that followed over the years, including Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Yaya Toure. And the Argentine superstar Zabaleta, who was City's final signing before the takeover, claimed a couple of years ago that the rest of the dressing room was left nervous over their futures.

"Ten days after my arrival, the purchase of the club by the people of Abu Dhabi is executed. Four days later, they invested around 40 million pounds for Robinho, and there I said, 'Now what do I do? I'm going to last six months here," the former City star said.

"We took it a bit as a joke and... in the locker room we started putting 'Messi', 'Cristiano Ronaldo'. We were s******g ourselves," Zabaleta had concluded. The Argentine became a huge favourite during the new era at City, making over 330 appearances in nine years. He won five significant pieces of silverware, including two Premier League titles, before joining the Hammers. 

The Etihad club tried to make their dream of signing iconic striker Messi a reality in 2017 by offering Barcelona a then-world record 100 million-pound move. But City's chief executive Ferran Soriano was forced to admit defeat when the Argentine magician signed a new deal at the Camp Nou.

Years later, with no Messi or Ronaldo joining the side, City continues to dominate the top-flight, having just dramatically won yet another silverware last weekend.