Lionel Messi struggled to score goals in French football last season with Paris Saint-Germain. As a result, some pundits are using his lack of goal-scoring production to fire off some hot takes. There’s been discussion if the 35-year-old’s current form is good enough for the Premier League.
While some believe Messi is past his prime to play for England’s top-six, former Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor stated on talkSPORT that despite Messi having an off-year, he’d still play for any top-six side in the Premier League.
“Would City have [Messi]? Liverpool. Thousand percent. Chelsea. What would be the first name on the team sheet for Chelsea? Especially the forward line? Spurs. Thousand percent. He’d start over Kulusevski. Arsenal? Thousand percent. Manchester United? 1000-percent,” Agbonlahor said.
Furthermore, Agbonlahor stated that Messi wasn’t motivated at PSG, and if the Argentine had gone to Manchester City under his former manager Pep Guardiola, football fans would have seen a different Messi.
🇦🇷 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮: “Would #MCFC, #CFC, #LFC, #THFC, #AFC or #MUFC have Messi?”
✅ 𝗚𝗮𝗯𝗯𝘆: “1000%! Lionel Messi starts in all those teams, he’s still got that quality.”@Ga11Agbon believes Lionel Messi would start for every top 6 club in the #PL 👀
What are your thoughts? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ekAjVs0PVO
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) July 6, 2022
Agbonlahor continues by saying that the 35-year-old still has the qualities that make him one of the best footballers to lace up a pair of boots.
“When he’s motivated. Last season he wasn’t motivated at PSG. We went to a Manchester City on the Pep Guardiola on the clock. I think you see a different Messi and the quality. I think he got the name of the highest assist in Ligue 1 last season. He started all them teams, and he still got that quality,” Agbonlahor concluded.
It will be interesting to see if this season Messi is motivated, and it appears he might be, considering he arrived sooner than expected to begin preparations for the 2022-23 season.
