Video: Arsene Wenger reveals that Arsenal were very close to signing Lionel Messi

I guess we never will know whether or not Messi can do it on a cold, windy, midweek night at the Britannia.

Arsene Wenger today revealed that Arsenal tried to sign Messi.  And, we know what you're thinking, "so what, Villa could try to sign Ronaldo, too," but apparently the Londoners were close to clinching a deal for the Argentine. At the same time Fabregas arrived at Arsenal, the manager was also trying to get Pique and Messi on board in a Barcelona ransack but missed out on two of them in the end. We're wondering whether they were actually close or was Wenger just playing Football Manager at the time, offering around £150k and a pile of add-ons, an U19 player to exchange and, of course, 50 per cent of the next sale for Messi. We're also wondering who the idiot is making these decisions at Barcelona that saw them lose both Fabregas and Pique and have to buy both of them back and nearly one of the world's best ever players, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx30TPwKIAo