Breaking News - Rumours are swirling that Lionel Messi will only be allowed to leave Barcelona for a club NOT in European competition next season leaving the door open for one of the unlikeliest transfers in world football history to Newcastle United...

If the football gods do exist then in the next amazing twist to the tale of Newcastle United Football Club, Lionel Messi - whom many millions of adoring fans around the world believe is a football god himself - will sign for The Magpies this weekend.

Some of the most passionate, loyal & amazing fans in football have suffered supporting their club in vain for 50 years since a last major trophy was won - The Fairs Cup in 1969 - & are fully deserving themselves of winning football's big prizes, at least one surely.

A decade or more of disappointment under Mike Ashley's challenging stewardship where the relative highs of a 5th-placed finish & Europa League Quarter-Final in 2011-3 have been scant reward for 50,000 sell-out crowds and obsessive, fervent support.

Even the near-glory years that preceded the Ashley era under Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd when the club rose from the depths of Division Two, almost Division Three, to enjoy Premier League title challenges and Champions League football under Kevin Keegan, Sir Bobby Robson and Kenny Dalglish were agonising near-miss failures.

And just as things were looking up this year as a consortium that would allow Newcastle to compete again with football's elite funded by one of the wealthiest states on earth, the rug was pulled and hopes were dashed again after a 17-week wait in the wilderness of a Premier League Owners and Director's test that ultimately fizzled out.

Surely Newcastle United fans deserve something better than this?

Enter stage left into St. James' Park, The G.O.A.T. himself, Lionel Andres Messi, the footballer many believe is the greatest to ever play The Beautiful Game itself, one who has won more Balon D'Or's than Newcastle's current no. 9 has scored goals for the club.

Full disclosure, I've always been Team Ronaldo in the great debate & believe he's the better, more adaptable footballer proven in multiple countries and on the international stage yet there's still time for Messi to come to St. James Park to prove me and his critics wrong as well as in the Qatar World Cup which will be upon us before we know it.

Messi signing for Newcastle might seem the stuff of fantasy but that magical club that play in black & white are renowned for pulling rabbits out of hats over the years and the capture of the Argentinian magician would be right up there with, if not totally eclipsing, the signing of former England Captain Kevin Keegan in the Second Division in 1984:

Messi wasn't born when the "Fairy tale stuff" Keegan effuses about above happened yet he will be aware of the Geordies through international team mate Fede Fernandez, current Newcastle defensive star who assured Newcastle fans he would tell his Argentinian compatriot all about the bridges of the Tyne & the beauty of Newcastle:

Have stranger things happened in the world of Newcastle United?

Maybe, maybe not. In terms of mega-signings that *almost* happened, players that nearly came to St. James' Park, you can add the illustrious names of Dixie Dean and Roberto Baggio to the likes of Wayne Rooney, Zinedine Zidane & George Weah that are more popularly known and don't forget the big one that actually did happen - Newcastle breaking the world transfer record to bring Geordie legend Alan Shearer home.

It would certainly be one of the most sensational football stories ever if Messi came to St. James' Park yet its the truly unexpected that makes professional sport so compelling - think of all the twists and turns in Michael Jordan's career chronicled in 'The Last Dance' - even swapping basketball for baseball - so anything is possible

Messi is clearly sick of Barcelona and the overwhelming pressure of attempting to carry a club to La Liga and Champions League glory that even he cannot do aged 33 & he may just completely fancy a change to recapture his love of the game and where better than alongside the talents of Miguel Almiron & Allan Saint-Maximin, who remains sceptical:

Moves to Man City and other non-sleeping European giants like Barca's 8-2 conquerors Bayern Munich have been mooted but at 33 does Messi really want the relentless grind of a gruelling League and European schedule packed more tightly than ever due to the Covid 19 before his final shot at emulating Diego Maradona and winning a World Cup for Argentina next Winter in Qatar?

Or would a more relaxed Premier League and domestic Cup season with Newcastle give Messi the mid-week rest and perspective he could find away from the intense media scrutiny of a Barcelona, Manchester, London, Munich or Milan before his final shot at proving himself, truly, the greatest of all time?

Wages could be a stumbling block yet surely Messi has earned enough for many lifetimes & may trade in a last big pay-day for quality of life & the adventure of a lifetime in front of a truly adoring Geordie fanbase starved of hope, inspiration and success.

Over to the football Gods and if he does sign for Newcastle, it'll be like the third coming of Geordie football messiah Peter Beardsley, who is the nearest Messi-equivalent to ever play the game, in front of fans who are in need of the ultimate football miracle.