Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would welcome Lionel Messi moving to England as a major boost for the Premier League, even if he ends up signing for a rival club.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner stunned the world of football earlier this week when he formally outlined his desire to leave Barcelona after 20 years this summer in a certified fax sent to the club's board.
Such a revelation has inevitably led to no shortage of speculation over the potential identity of Messi's next club, with Standard Sport understanding that Manchester City believe they are the Argentine superstar's preferred next destination.
City - as well as boasting the financial power necessary to meet his mammoth £988,000-a-week wages - have the obvious Pep Guardiola connection, while former Barca duo Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano are also at Etihad Stadium as director of football and chief executive respectively.
And former City assistant - and boyhood Barcelona fan - Arteta would see Messi switching to the English top-flight as enormous for its reputation and an enjoyable event, even with the likelihood that it would produce a major boost to a rival.
"He has been linked everywhere, you know? He has more clubs than any other player in history after him," Arteta said.
"I've been a Barcelona fan since I was young and it's always sad to see, who in my opinion has been the best player in football history, leave that football club.
"Let's see what happens, if he comes to England we're all going to enjoy it.
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"It doesn't matter [if he moves to a rival club]. It's good for football. We'll have to find a way, if it's not here we might find him in the Champions League, you never know.
"You want the best players in your league and for me that's the best thing, to have the most competitive league in the world.
"The Premier League has always had that. The times with [Cristiano] Ronaldo, I played against him and it was great because it raises the level of every individual and every team as well."
