In an interview, Getafe Chairman Angel Torres once again talked about his close past when he brought Guardiola and Messi to Getafe. He said these two almost finalized deals at the time had the opportunity to change the history of football.

About Guardiola

They (Barcelona) wanted to ask Lauderup to coach, and I wanted to bring Guardiola (as a coach) over. I talked with his brother (Perre Guardiola) and reached a preliminary agreement. Guardiola would definitely succeed if he was in Getafe because he was a "monster".

The idea at the time was that if Laudrup went to Barcelona to coach, we would hire Guardiola, who was still coaching Barcelona B team at the time. At that time, Laporta was not convinced at first about the appointment of Guardiola. I reached an agreement with their sports director Begiristan in the VIP room at Barajas Airport. But the situation is that Rijkaard has a poor grade and they have to fire him and ultimately decide to let Guardiola take over.

About Messi's first or second season in the first team with Messi, we almost have to loan him. I remember it was August 18, and my sports director Alfredo Douro went to the Camp Nou, and we were going to ask for Messi. We have reached a preliminary agreement, but then head coach Rijkaard said that there were players on his team injured, so Messi couldn't leave and he was ready to start giving Messi playing time. It was just a little bit short, but we ended up returning empty-handed.

source:7m 2vn