Talk of Messi potentially joining former manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City has surfaced in recent days after the six-time Ballon d’or winner was involved in an angry public exchange of words with Barcelona sporting director Eric Abidal.
Messi has a clause in his Barcelona contract allowing him to leave for free at the end of the season but Guardiola has ruled out making a move for his former protégé, insisting the Argentine should finish his career at the Camp Nou.
Having ruled world football for well over a decade, Messi usually finds himself in debates with Ronaldo as to who is the better player.
Ronaldo has already conquered England with Manchester United, and he remains the only player to have won the Ballon d’or while playing in the Premier League.
Messi on the other hand, remains a one-club man.
Petit, who won the 1998 FIFA World Cup with France, believes Messi does not the physical attributes of Ronaldo and at 32, would struggle in England.
“Messi is not Cristiano Ronaldo. Physically he’s not the same machine,” Petit told Paddy Power.
“Ronaldo is a monster, but at 32 Messi has only one or two more years playing at the highest level.
“Even playing alongside great players at Barca, he won’t have the same pace or the dribbling ability. I’m sure he knows the end is not far away.
“Honestly, I don’t think he’s suited to the intensity of England. He doesn’t like being closed down and being fought – in Spain he’s protected.
“It would be a pleasure for English fans to see him there but I don’t see why a club like Man City, for example, would move for Messi at 32 or 33.
“If City wanted to buy him, they should have tried to do it a couple of years ago.
“Messi has won so many trophies and when I look back on Barca’s team from 10 years ago it’s clear now the club was at its peak. Those players wrote their own legends in that period.
“It’s normal that after you reach that level you realise there’s nothing else above it, and the only way is down. You can’t stay at the top forever.
“If you look at the players they’ve bought since then, you can see they haven’t had the financial might to compete against the biggest powers in the transfer market.
“They’re one of the biggest clubs but financially they’ve been a bit of a nightmare recently.
“Now they have to sell before they buy and these days if they want to bring in the world’s best players it costs them €80m or more.”
