Arsene Wenger: Arsenal tried to sign Pique, Fabregas and Messi

The coach hinted that the impressive performances by Fabregas convinced the club to go for Pique and Messi.

The former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has revealed that they tried to sign Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi to compliment the presence of Cesc Fabregas. The midfielder had joined Arsenal in 2003 after graduating from FC Barcelona's esteemed La Masia.

Cesc became a cult figure at Arsenal and considering his success, the club had planned to move for more players from the Catalan club. [KH_ADWORDS type="3" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] Wenger said, "We tried, we were not near to signing Messi. But we tried to sign Pique, Fabregas and Messi. Of course, we already tried but he was already too big at the time."

"Don't forget in 2006 when we played the Champions League final against Barcelona, Messi couldn't play because he was injured...so that's 13 years ago and he was already a regular player in the first team."

"What this guy has done is unbelievable."

Wenger did not specify the time when they tried to sign the two players but he was full of praise for them. At one point of time, Arsenal was close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo as well. And on being asked how getting both Ronaldo and Messi in the same team would have been, he said, "That's real fantasy football. I would have loved to."

"I had big personalities in my life, very big personalities. If you can give them what they want they are happy," said Wenger to Goal.

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Talking about his ambition of coming back to coaching, Wenger insisted that he indeed is looking for opportunities but does not have FC Bayern Munich in his mind.

"I'm out of this. First of all, I never was a candidate. I have been approached and I'm not in the running for the job."

"I'm not a candidate for the job."