Tax Dodger Seeks Out Le Professeur

Like a unicorn

It’s not been a brilliant international break. Which means only one thing - the rumour mill not only going into full swing, but arguably outdoing itself, even by its own standards.

And with that in mind, according to The Daily Star, Lionel Messi isn’t too happy with the tax man in Spain and could seek a move to the sunny shores of England. Where paying your taxes is optional?

It turns out that if he were to grace the Premier League with his presence, he would look to join free-spending Arsenal. Reportedly Messi will look to overcome the burden of tax by increasing his own weekly wages to £600,000 a week.

Of course, it would’t just be the £18M a year (after tax) for the Argentina ace, there’s also the small matter of a £175M buy-out clause.

Messi has been with Catalan side for 14 years and has made claims that he wants to retire with them. We suspect someone *might* be looking to improve his current contract to deal with those messy taxes that he’d thought were only for us mere mortals.

But if we could pretend for a minute that Messi would leave the comforts of Barcelona behind, and Arsenal may be the club that's turned his head -- Arsene Wenger would rather eat his own eyeballs that part with that kind of cash for anyone.