The Barcelona star who rejected Lionel Messi and chose Haaland: "He is a cyborg"

Lionel Messi is the most important player in Barcelona's history. He made his debut there in 2004, when he was only 17 years old, and quickly earned a place in Frank Rijkaard's team thanks to his talent and ability to dribble past opposing defenders. In 2008 Pep Guardiola arrived and decided to get rid of Ronaldinho to make Leo his 'number 10'. And that decision was the right one, as a year later the Argentine forward led the team to the Champions League title and won the Ballon d'Or for the first time.

What followed was a glorious story: during his 17 years with the Catalan side, Messi won 35 titles, including four Champions League. This made him the most decorated player in Barcelona's history. And not only that. He is also the player with the most games (778), goals (672) and assists (269).

However, since his departure to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, many in Catalonia seem to forget how important he was to the club. In an interview with Ibai Llanos on Twitch, Pedri shocked everyone by revealing that he would not sign Messi for Barcelona right now. When asked about which player he would add to the squad, he explained: "I would sign Messi if he was 19 or 22 years old, but currently I would sign Haaland, he is a cyborg and scores a lot of goals".

Then the midfielder clarified why he chose the Manchester City striker: "It's true that we have Lewandowski, but he's older, he won't be able to play until he's 60". And he also talked about the new striker who joined the squad, Vitor Roque: "I always see him smiling in the locker room. That's Brazilian, they transmit that magic, now we can't ask him to be the new Pelé".

He is recovering

Pedri was unable to play the last games of 2023 because of a muscle injury. This was his second injury of the season, as he had previously been sidelined for several weeks due to a similar problem. When asked when he will be able to return, he assured that it will be "soon", although he did not give further details.