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What is the fact of the story concerning the Barcelona icon nearly going to Scotland? Objective takes a glance again
Soccer is filled with tales about near-misses and fantasies regarding gamers who might need been signed by sure golf equipment.
Blackburn Rovers famously missed out on Zinedine Zidane within the Nineteen Nineties, opting to signal Tim Sherwood as an alternative, whereas Barcelona and Arsenal have been potential locations for Cristiano Ronaldo.
One enduring account about an almost-signing is that of Lionel Messi almost becoming a member of Scottish outfit Rangers within the early 2000s.
So what’s the story? Did it actually occur? Objective takes a take a look at the reality behind the story.
Did Lionel Messi almost signal for Rangers?
No, Messi didn’t almost signal for Rangers. Sorry to shatter the parable.
Nevertheless, it’s true that there was robust curiosity from the Scottish membership round 2003-04, simply earlier than the Argentine broke into the Barcelona first workforce.
Tentative enquiries have been comprised of the Rangers about the potential of taking Messi on mortgage to Glasgow, however they have been rejected out of hand.
The rejection of the curiosity from Scotland is maybe no shock contemplating that Messi was already on the fringes of the Barca workforce and finally made his senior aggressive debut at 17 in October 2004.
What really occurred?
So if Rangers didn’t almost signal Messi, what actually occurred?
Alex McLeish was supervisor of the Ibrox membership when enquiries about Messi have been made and it was his son Jon who alerted him to the precocious Argentine after seeing him on Soccer Supervisor.
Jon, who really went on to develop into a soccer agent, had seen a 13-year-old Messi on the sport and informed McLeish – who was then managing Hibernian – about it.
Although Messi’s burgeoning fame was actually no secret in soccer circles, the tip evidently stayed with the Scottish coach as he requested concerning the Barca youth product numerous years later, only to be told “no chance” by the Catalan club.
“My son Jon was into Championship Supervisor,” McLeish defined on Graham Hunter’s The Huge Interview podcast in 2017.
“He was always giving me names in South America. They arrive out of the sky and say ‘Lionel Messi goes to be the most effective participant on this planet’.
“He was 13 or 14 on the time. You dismiss it however Rangers have been downsizing and we have been on the lookout for some high quality in midfield.
“Barry Ferguson had gone all the way down to Blackburn so we misplaced a man who would have taken the ball in any stadium wherever on this planet. We would have liked gamers of that ilk once more.
“Jan Wouters phoned Henk ten Cate, who was the assistant of Frank Rijkaard, the ex-Dutch worldwide.
“Jan phoned him and stated: ‘Messi?’ We have been informed no likelihood.”
Rangers had hyperlinks with Barcelona, having beforehand accomplished enterprise with the membership to signal Ronald de Boer in 2000 and Mikel Arteta in 2002, so it was not wholly uncommon for such enquiries to be made.
Added to that, the truth that McLeish’s assistant Jan Wouters was pleasant with Barcelona assistant head coach Henk ten Cate helped.
McLeish went into higher element concerning the makes an attempt to signal Messi in Hunter’s 2012 e book Barca, explaining that Barcelona were worried that the Scottish game may have been too rough for the Argentine.
“Ten Cate and Jan Wouters had chats about us taking Messi on mortgage, however the steerage from Henk was that he was most likely too younger and presumably too slight to get profit from Scottish soccer,” McLeish stated.
Letting the diminutive ahead lower his enamel in British soccer was seen as a danger due to the notion that “powerful tackling” and a extra bodily sport held sway in the UK.
Whereas the prospect of signing Messi was an entire non-runner, Rangers and McLeish have been subsequently tipped off by Ten Cate a few younger Andres Iniesta, who was additionally nonetheless solely a teen on the time.
Nevertheless, that did not occur both, not helped by the truth that Iniesta was turning heads at Camp Nou. Influential figures similar to Txiki Begiristain and Joan Laporta have been additionally eager to advertise La Masia products to the primary workforce.
“[Ten Cate] stated ‘we’ve obtained a younger child, Iniesta, he’s an exceptional participant’, solely 18 or 19,” McCleish defined in 2017.
“We stated ‘can he come to Scotland?’
“They stated ‘yep I’ll try to make hay at Barcelona and get him over to you. He must get some motion’.
“By the Monday Iniesta was known as into the workforce and he performed a stormer.
“Ten Cate got here again and Jan requested him ‘what concerning the wee man? Are we getting him?’”
“Ten Cate sighed and stated we had no likelihood.”
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