He missed out on the Ballon d'Or last night in Zurich, but with a few awards under his belt already, surely there's nothing left for him to prove, right?
Well, it would seem that a few fans think there is, and with rumours swirling (that he has denied, it should be noted) that he might be looking at a new club as tensions reach boiling point in Barcelona, a number of the biggest teams in the world have lined up to try and sign him.
Well, they've apparently been joined by Stoke in the hunt for his signature, or by their fans at least, as a petition on change.org is close to hitting the 5,000 mark that they believe would make the Argentine change his mind.
A common charge levelled against many footballers who don't ply their trade in the Premier League is that they couldn't do it on a "wet, windy night in Stoke", and many have quipped it about Messi before, purely in a joking manner, but if these fans get their way then he may be able to finally prove that he could really do it, because doing it in the Champions League, La Liga, World Cup and Cop America is not the real test of a player's ability.
While most Stoke fans would definitely like to see this happen, and they'd be sure to sell a few shirts off the back of it, we're not entirely sure that he's going to sign on the dotted line. Then again, stranger things have happened...right?
Via Aleksander Holiga/Twitter
