Lionel Messi ‘lined up move to Arsenal’

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi had begun plotting a possible transfer to Arsenal last season, according to reports in Spain.

The Argentina international was in dispute with Barca over a new contract at that time.

He subsequently signed a new extension to his deal in May and committed his future to the Catalan giants.

But earlier in the campaign he had approached team-mate Cesc Fabregas to sound out his agent Darren Dein about a switch to the Gunners, claims Spanish website Vozpopuli.

The deal Messi signed in May was not disclosed in full, but it is believed that he was holding out to be made the world’s highest paid player.

He has a buy-out clause of £197m, which would have dwarfed Arsenal’s transfer record, which is the £42.5m paid to Real Madrid for Mesut Ozil last summer.