Arsenal and Barcelona have engaged in a lot of transfer business with each other over the years, but the Spanish giants were the victors in most deals.
The Gunners had to deal with a lot of key players trading Highbury and the Emirates for the Camp Nou over the years. Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars moved in the late 1990s, whilst Thierry Henry and Alexander Hleb also moved to the Blaugrana.
One of the most frustrating deals of them all was losing club captain Cesc Fabregas to Pep Guardiola’s side in 2011, with the Spaniard forcing a move to the club where he grew up.
Arsenal signed Fabregas as a teenager, and he quickly became a key figure under Arsene Wenger, but he could have enjoyed even more success if two fellow La Masia talents had followed him to North London.
Arsenal nearly signed Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi alongside Cesc Fabregas
Barcelona legend Gerard Pique was one of the finest centre-backs of his generation, but he could have been an Arsenal hero instead, alongside arguably the greatest player ever in Lionel Messi, if Wenger had secured a deal to sign them.
Speaking to BBC Five Live Sport, Pique explained how he nearly joined Arsenal before he briefly moved to Manchester United, but a deal collapsed which would have seen him play alongside Fabregas under Wenger.
“The summer before I left to join Manchester United, Arsene came to sign me at that time,” he stated.
“Arsenal didn’t want to get into a big fight with Barcelona because they already took Cesc (Fabregas) at that time.
“So they kind of were trying to arrange a deal with Barcelona and it took more time than what we wanted to. So Manchester United arrived and said, ‘listen, we want you so let’s take a decision right now’ and I decided to go there.
“And it’s true that later on, I think that Arsene tried also to sign Messi, but he didn’t have a chance. So the good thing about that is all of us went back and played for the Barcelona first team.”
Arsenal’s transfer deals with Barcelona
Arsenal have signed plenty of youngsters from Barcelona over the years, but not all enjoyed the success of Fabregas, with the likes of Jon Toral and Fran Merida failing to make the grade.
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Hector Bellerin was something of a success story as he established himself at right-back, but injuries curtailed his progress at Arsenal before he eventually left in 2021.
Arsenal did also sign Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona in a big-money deal, and they were also able to offload Alex Song and Thomas Vermaelen for fairly good fees, with neither player succeeding at the Camp Nou.
There is almost certainly some regret at Arsenal that deals for Pique and Messi could not be completed, but the players themselves clearly had a desire to succeed at Barcelona, and similar situations to the one of Fabregas may have eventually arisen if they did end up joining.