Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has revealed he called Luis Suarez to ask Lionel Messi if he wanted to join the LaLiga champions.
Messi was a free agent after his contract with Barcelona expired in July, but that did not last too long as he joined Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain soon after.
Suarez left the Camp Nou to join Los Rojiblancos in 2020, but the Uruguayan remains good friends with the Argentine forward.
At the time of Messi's exit from the Blaugrana, however, Simeone seemingly wanted to know, via Suarez, if there was any chance of the six-time Ballon d'Or winner making the move to the Spanish capital.
"It was something that lasted three hours, because PSG already had their hearts set on signing him.
"So the chance to work with Messi has never come up. He was always at Barca [before joining PSG], I've been at Atletico and we didn't coincide as players in the Argentina national team."
Scroll right to see the all the 2021 Ballon d'Or nominees
Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
N'Golo Kante (Chelsea/France)
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund/Norway)
Mason Mount (Chelsea/England(
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/France)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur/England)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain/Italy)
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City/England)
Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan/Italy)
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain/Argentina)
Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United/Portugal)
Pedri (Barcelona/Spain)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia)
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus/Italy)
Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium)
Ruben Dias (Manchester City/Portugal)
Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan/Argentina)
Simon Kjaer (AC Milan/Denmark)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Poland)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)
Jorginho (Chelsea/Italy)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United/Portugal)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid/Uruguay)
Phil Foden (Manchester City/England)
Gerard Moreno (Villarreal/Spain)
Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea/Belgium)
Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea/Spain)
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