Messi Rejected Manchester United Transfer Last Summer - Report

Manchester United made a bid to sign Lionel Messi last summer but the Barcelona star rejected the proposal, according to reports in Spain.

Messi has insisted that he wants to end his career at Barcelona but some Spanish pundits have recently reported that the 26-year-old could quit Barcelona next summer, because he believes the Catalan club is not looking after him as he deserves.

Spanish newspaper AS claims that, for the first time in a while, the possibility of the Argentine forward quitting the Nou Camp is being considered by Barcelona supporters.

The report also revealed that last summer Messi received at least three offers from Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain but the player rejected all of them in the hope of signing a new, better deal in Catalonia.

However Barcelona vice-president Javier Faus recently said they are not thinking of renewing Messi's contract as he still has four and a half years remaining on his current deal, which was signed last year.

"We do not have to renew Messi's contract every 6 months. There is no reason to do it," he said.

Faus also denied any chance of selling Messi but, according to AS, the problem is that the Argentine's agents are not happy because summer signing Neymar has become the highest-paid player at the club and they believe that Messi deserves that privilege.

AS claims that Barcelona "are playing with fire" over Messi by defying him and refusing to countenance a salary increase.

In the last few weeks Messi has also been linked with a move to Manchester City and Bayern Munich, but the Germans confirmed that they do not have intention in signing him.

The striker is currently injured with a thigh problem and he will not return to action until next year.