Arsene Wenger's 'Nearly Signed' XI: Active players who almost played for Arsenal

Attacking Midfielder: Lionel Messi

Both Fabregas and Messi were targeted by Arsenal but Messi stayed behind in Barcelona

Everyone wonders whether Lionel Messi can do it all on a cold, wet night in Stoke and Wenger may have been the one to help answer the question if things had gone his way. While the deal for Pique fell through, Messi was a different matter altogether.

Both he and Fabregas were Arsenal targets and Wenger wanted to bring them both. But reports of Wenger refusing to give Messi’s family a flat was flatly denied by the Frenchman and he claimed it was just simply impossible to remove Messi from his comfort zone in Barcelona.

“I refused nothing. In the end, he was not looking to move. It was the period Fabregas came. They played together in the same team. We wanted Fabregas, Messi and Pique.

“It was not completely down to a flat. In the end, Messi was comfortable at Barcelona.”

If only, Arsene. If only...