Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed that he almost secured the signature of Lionel Messi, when he was playing for the La Masia academy as a 16 year-old teenager.
Messi, alongside Fabregas attracted Wenger’s attention back in 2003, prior to his debut for the senior Barcelona team. However, the Gunners only managed to secure the signing of Fabregas, who eventually became their skipper later on in his Arsenal career.
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi remained at Barcelona, and went on to become the world’s best player with the Catalan side.
“It’s true, it’s just that he [Messi] didn’t want to move. In the end, he was comfortable at Barcelona,” Wenger said.
Wenger’s failure to capture Messi, means that he could have technically signed the current best players in the world, having also gone close in terms of signing Cristiano Ronaldo, only for the Portuguese to to agree a deal with rivals Man United after that.
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