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Sao Paulo meetings and 2016's near miss: Inside Man City's attempts to sign Messi

The Barcelona legend was welcomed with open arms at the Premier League club's training ground this week, but not in the circumstances they had hoped

Members of Manchester City's social media team were offered a glimpse into a parallel universe this week when a video of Lionel Messi's arrival at the club's training ground was posted on Twitter.

City's Abu Dhabi owners have been dreaming of a moment like this since they bought the club a decade ago, and no doubt the Blues' innovative media department would have been on hand to capture Messi's every move had he ever arrived at the City Football Academy to seal what would have been the biggest transfer of all time.