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Thanks to Football Manager, Rangers almost acquired Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta at Ibrox; however, the Barcelona star later called them “anti-football.”
Lionel Messi looks certain to go down in history as the greatest one-club man in history (sorry, Jamie Carragher).
But his incredible Barcelona career was very nearly scuppered by one one of the most audacious loan bids ever, thanks to the Football Manager obsessive son of Alex McLeish.
Then at Rangers, McLeish had been riding high, winning a treble in his first season but it was all set to change with numerous stars leaving the club.
Barry Ferguson was the big loss in 2003 – heading to Blackburn Rovers for £7.5million – as the Scottish giants gradually set about attempting to balance the books, which weren’t looking too healthy.
With Ferguson gone, Rangers needed a player, someone with some skill in the final third, a ball-player, and his son Jon – who would later become a scout and agent – had a suggestion.
All ears as he looked to solve his Ibrox issues, McLeish took notes and got to work thank to his well connected assistant Jan Wouters.
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We’ve all been there on Football Manager, haven’t we? We’ve landed ourselves a superstar, told our mates about them, and pushed them as a player our club should sign in real life.
McLeish’s child offered up a name. Lionel Messi.
“My son Jon was into Championship Manager,” he explained to The Big Interview.
“He was constantly giving me names in South America. They come out the sky and say ‘Lionel Messi is going to be the best player in the world’.
“You dismiss it but Rangers were downsizing and we were looking for some quality in midfield.
“Barry Ferguson had gone down to Blackburn so we lost a guy who would have taken the ball in any stadium anywhere in the world. We needed players of that ilk again.
“Jan Wouters phoned Henk ten Cate, who was the assistant of Frank Rijkaard, the ex-Dutch international.
“Jan phoned him and said: ‘Messi?’ We were told no chance.”
It was worth a go right?
And like legendary Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who coached McLeish at Aberdeen, it’s always worth inquiring further and finding out what else you might get.
Fergie landed Eric Cantona when he dared ask Leeds about his availability during a conversation about Denis Irwin.
McLeish and Wouters almost got an even bigger prize – Andres Iniesta, a talented midfielder who was on the first-team fringes.
“[Ten Cate] said ‘we’ve got a young kid, Iniesta, he’s a phenomenal player’, only 18 or 19,” McLeish continued.
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Gabriel says the squad are still full of belief going into our final Premier League game of the season against Everton on Sunday.
We need to win our game and also hope that West Ham United can take points off of Manchester City, but Gabriel says that anything can happen.
“There is still belief,” he said. “We are ready for the last game. We’ve prepared really well this week and we’re ready to go to the last game and win and see what happens. In football, anything can happen.
“Everything is normal and we prepare like we do for every game. What we’ve done this year and all the support for us, we’re very happy.”
Gabriel has been one of the key reasons why David Raya was able to scoop up the Golden Glove award recently for keeping the most clean sheets in the Premier League, and our Brazilian defender has been impressed with David’s first season in north London.
“Of course David is a very important player for us,” he said. “We’re very happy to have him here and we’re pleased he joined the club and has been doing a great job.
“We’ve changed the way we play to some extent but with Aaron Ramsdale we were already playing like that, so it’s just small things really.”
Declan Rice also arrived in the summer and has made a huge influence on the team as well, going above and beyond Gabriel’s own expectations.
“I didn’t expect it to be honest,” he said. “I had watched Declan before and knew he was a top player. He’s been having a big impact on the team here and really helping us out so we’re happy to have him.
“He has so much quality and can play in two or three different positions so of course we’re thrilled to have him in the team.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
Preview: Arsenal v Everton
After 10 months and 37 matches, the 2023/24 campaign concludes with us still having a chance of becoming Premier League champions for the first time in 20 years.
The maths is simple – a win for ourselves must be coupled with Manchester City dropping points at home to West Ham United for us to lift the title, and thus become the first team in 35 years to start the final day off top spot but still seize the silverware.
Whatever happens, history has been made. Our 27 Premier League victories is a new club record, and 89 league goals haven’t been bettered since 1963/64. A win over the Toffees would be our 35th from 52 games in all competitions, handing us an unmatched 67.3 win percentage and moving us to 89 points – one off our biggest haul.
We also have the best defensive record and the biggest goal difference, but should results go our way, a statistically brilliant season can be validated with the numbers that matter most – first place and a 14th English league championship.
Drop avoided despite deductions
A turbulent campaign for Sean Dyche’s team is finishing with a flourish, as they have lost just one of their last eight games to beat the drop again – this time made more impressive with games to spare and having eight points deducted for breaching profit and sustainability rules.
Their 70-year stay in the top-flight was under serious threat, with sanctions hanging over their head and a points appeal ongoing amidst a 13-game winless run. However victories on and off the pitch saw them haul themselves out of the relegation zone in February and up to 15th spot heading into the final day, 14 points above the drop zone.
The hallmarks of Dyche are all over this Toffees team, and only ourselves have kept more clean sheets than their 13 this term. They recorded their first home Merseyside derby win over Liverpool since 2010 three weeks ago, but they haven’t been great travellers in 2024, as they are winless in their last 11 away games, failing to score more than once in any of those.
