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So this is kind of a fun one, even if it never would have happened: apparently, according to Friend Of The Blog Kike Marin, Lionel Messi - yes, the one who's really good, not the other one - was "seriously considering" a move to Arsenal last spring, before deciding instead to sign a new contract with Barcelona.
According to Metro:
The paper claims that Messi had spoken to close friend Cesc Fabregas about his time at Arsenal, and also sounded out other acquaintances about a switch to London.
He had apparently already instructed his agent to discuss with the Gunners whether a transfer could realistically take place, before Barca quickly moved to sort out his future.
I have to assume this was before Cesc did this to himself, because obviously nobody in their right mind would listen to him now.
#TrueDetectiveSeason2 RT @Phaetonv2: Ah man, no way someone with this hairline is happy in life pic.twitter.com/u638A4FxOq
— pretty hate machine (@Brohan_Cruyff) July 21, 2014
Anyway, Metro says part of the attraction to Arsenal for Messi was his "huge" admiration of washed-up Specialist In Failure and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. So it's a good thing that Wenger's still at Arsenal, because if this story had come out after he left (as oh so many of our sillier fans would like), I probably would have murdered someone.
Of course, now that Messi's a World Cup failure, we could probably get him for £15 million or so. LET'S DO IT, ARSENE.