Lionel Messi was close to leaving Barcelona for Arsenal.
The Lionel Messi transfer saga of 2020 almost saw the Barcelona legend move to Manchester City. Although the deal did not go through in the end, this is not the first time that the player has been linked to an English club. According to his previous agent, Fabian Soldini, Messi was approached by English giants, Arsenal in 2003. The move was a very serious one and if it went through, the state of world football would be very different.
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The North London side took interest in a very young Lionel Messi in 2003 when they approached Barca to buy Cesc Fabregas. The club also enquired about Messi but the Argentine chose to stay with the club. Fabregas went on to have a successful eight-year run with Arsenal and he returned to the Catalan side to once again join forces with Messi in 2011.
It is true that bringing the young superstar to north London was a quite unrealistic target as the Spanish side had already invested a lot on the player. However, it brings into question how unstoppable the Gunnars would have been if Arsene Wenger could have brought in all the players he just missed out upon. Wenger has claimed he missed out on players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo, should he been able to bring all these players, world football would have been very different.
However, none of that really matters as Messi chose to stay and went on to become a six-time Ballon d’Or winner and a club legend. No matter what he chooses to do next season, there is no denying that Barcelona have been very privileged to produce and keep a player like Messi who might go down to be the greatest player of all time in history.
How would Barca be if Messi left them back in 2003?