Twitter Reacts to News of Lionel Messi's Apparent Desire to Leave Barcelona

So, you've sent for the top officials at your club. You've made it clear that big changes are needed if your club is to make itself great again. And you're also the best player in the world.

But even the best player in the world needs some kind of support frame in place behind him, and Lionel Messi does not have that at Barcelona. Years of mismanagement behind the scenes, including some horrendous policies regarding transfers, have led the La Liga giants to this point.

Just in case you hadn't already heard, Barça got totally embarrassed in the Champions League on Friday night. We're not talking a 3-0 loss or anything like that. The Catalan side were given an absolute pasting by Bayern Munich in Europe's elite club competition, going out as 8-2 losers. Arturo Vidal had only claimed his side as the world's best a day or two earlier, just to make things even more awkward.

Messi's given pretty much all of his career to Barcelona, but the loss didn't scream 'optimistic start to a brand new era'. It quite clearly screamed 'old, lethargic players years past their peak'. The disparity between Barcelona's approach and Bayern's was pretty stark and unsettling.

So, when your supporting cast is quite clearly not good enough, what do you do? Get a new one, obviously.

That's the news doing rounds on Sunday. It's been reported that Messi is now looking for a route away from Camp Nou. But hey, Ronald Koeman is apparently the frontrunner to replace Quique Setien as the club's new manager, so every cloud, right?

A Messi-less Camp Nou. It seems unthinkable for a fair few football fans, but for others, it's the perfect opportunity to witness the Argentine wizard's swan-song at their home ground - whether that be Old Trafford or Bayview Stadium.

We've also got a few people out here hoping Arsenal can get a deal over the line, even though they've probably got the goals department sorted with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Still, some people just can't be reasoned with...

Or maybe a cross country trip to Barcelona's fiercest rivals would appeal to Messi? Karim Benzema's only just started discovering how good he can be without having to bow down to a generational talent, but perhaps he'd fancy playing second fiddle again for a few more years?

So where could Messi realistically go? Inter have previously mentioned, as have Manchester City, though anywhere other than Barcelona just seems strange.

For some people, it would only become real once the #WelcomeMessi tweet, coupled with the legend sporting a new shirt without blue and red stripes, has been posted online for the world to see. Still, it's a weird thought.