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It was one for the ages, one for the dreamers. It was a time of poorly done Photoshops, of ridiculous flights of fancy, of exorbitant transfer fees (£200m! £500m!!! Eleventybillion cubits!) and of much laughter. Believes and disbelievers, we all just laughed. What else could you do in case of a most outrageous transfer rumor cobbled together from Instagram accounts, airline advertisements, a defeat to Moyesylución, and dispatches from between the lines in-between lines.
Alas.
"I have no intentions of leaving for any team, not Chelsea nor Manchester City."
"I'm tired of all the things that people have been saying. I didn't ask the club to fire anyone."
"People make it out as if I run the club and that's not how it is. I don't ask anyone to make decisions."
"Everything that has been said is lies and I want people to know that, everything that has been said is false."-Lionel Messi; source: BarcaTV via BBC
All that's missing now is a viral YouTube video of some fan crying "LEAVE MESSI ALONE!"
But, with this Messi thing hopefully put to bed for good, we might as well cancel Silly Season. It's all downhill from here. It's peaked too early. Let's just get on with our footballing lives.