Arsene Wenger reveals Gunners tried to sign Barcelona ace Lionel Messi

ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger (L) has confirmed rumours that he once tried to sign Barcelona star Lionel Messi (R).

Arsene Wenger today revealed just how close Arsenal came to signing Lionel Messi.

Spanish journalist Guillem Balague wrote in his new book “Messi” that Arsenal missed out on the Barcelona superstar because they refused to buy his family a flat.

But Wenger insists Messi did not want to move to London and said that they had hoped to sign THREE Barcelona youngsters - Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique - but only ended up with one.

Gunners boss Wenger said: “I refused nothing. I think in the end, he was not so keen to move, because it was at a period where Fabregas came and Fabregas and Messi played together in the same team.

“We wanted to take Fabregas, Messi and Pique. It worked only for Fabregas. It was not completely down to a flat in the end. It was down to the fact that in the end Messi was comfortable at Barcelona.”

Arsenal would have one hell of a team if they had signed all the players that Wenger claims they were close to getting.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure have all nearly joined Arsenal in the past.

But Wenger’s near miss on Messi probably tops the lot and yet Arsenal finally seem to have a selection of forwards to choose from - barring one.

Theo Walcott missed training on Thursday with a tight groin and will not be available to face Manchester United while Danny Welbeck has a small hamstring problem and Olivier Giroud should be fit enough for the bench.

But Alexis Sanchez could miss out after a long trip to Chile for international duty. Mikel Arteta is fit to return.

Wenger added: “They have all come back in decent shape. We still have some problems - I haven’t seen Alexis Sanchez yet because he landed yesterday afternoon.

“We have to check him this morning and Danny Welbeck also had a little hamstring problem. We have lots of people to check today.

“He’s (Giroud) ahead of schedule by at least three weeks. We planned him to be back in January. He’s not there yet on the competition front but he’s in decent physical shape. He’s a bit short but he worked very hard to be back early and it worked.”

Both teams are outside of the top four and Arsenal have not beaten United since May 2011.

“Yes [it’s unusual] but I’m not sure that will last,” said Wenger. “I’m sure that will not last. You look at the players on the pitch and it promises to be a great game. You have to look further than the table and look at the quality of the players. I think it’s a very exciting game to watch.”