Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he is going to enjoy if the “best player in football history” Lionel Messi joins a Premier League club as it will make the league competitive.
Arteta’s remarks come after reports surfaced that Messi has conveyed his message to Barcelona that he no longer wants to stay with the club.
The 33-year-old sent a fax to the club, asking them to allow him to activate a clause in his contract that will allow him to leave on a free transfer this summer, Goal.com had reported.
“He has been linked everywhere, you know? He has more clubs than any other player in history after him. I’ve been a Barcelona fan since I was young and it’s always sad to see, who in my opinion has been the best player in football history, leave that football club. Let’s see what happens, if he comes to England we’re all going to enjoy it,” the club’s official website quoted Arteta as saying.
Arteta said it does not matter even if the Argentine joins Arsenal’s rival club.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s good for football. We’ll have to find a way, if it’s not here we might find him in the Champions League, you never know. You want the best players in your league and for me that’s the best thing, to have the most competitive league in the world,” he said.
“The Premier League has always had that. The times with Ronaldo, I played against him and it was great because it raises the level of every individual and every team as well,” Arteta added.
Messi, who has won the Ballon d’Or six times, has spent his entire career with Barcelona.
Barcelona was handed an 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final, and since then, the club has been dealing with a crisis. Barcelona had to endure a trophy-less 2019-20 campaign.
The side had finished at the second place, behind Real Madrid in La Liga standings in the 2019-20 season.
The head coach Quique Setien has already been sacked by the club. Ronald Koeman has been appointed as the new coach of Barcelona.
