Messi made the comments at a press conference ahead of a friendly between Barcelona and Chinese side Beijing Guoan.
“I am very much looking forward to playing with Cesc Fabregas on the same football team one day,” said Messi.
The Spanish champions have gone public with their interest in Fabregas and are willing to pay around £30 million for the privilege, but have said they respect Arsenal’s wish not to grant the transfer.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said Fabregas should focus on helping his current team win the Premier League rather than on a dream return to the club he left as a teenager.
Later at the press conference the Argentine star said he was sad to see national coach Diego Maradona go, but that the football legend’s sacking was just part of the game.
“I certainly did not want Maradona to leave. I believed then that he would stay. But maybe that is just football,” Messi told a packed news conference.
Last month in South Africa, Messi and Maradona’s World Cup ended in bitter disappointment as Argentina were humbled 4-0 by Germany in the quarter-finals. Maradona was subsequently sacked last week after just 18 months in the job.
Ernesto Cherquis Bialo, a spokesman for Argentina’s national football association said the name of the new coach for the national side would be announced in October.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2010.
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