Lionel Messi has spent the entirety of his playing career with Barcelona after joining the club's academy when he was just 13. In the intervening years, the Argentina international has gone on to cement his legacy as the greatest player in the club's history.Lionel Messi's story and Barcelona's are so deeply intertwined that it is impossible to think of one without the other. Considering all of his achievements at Camp Nou, the thought of Messi wearing a club colour other than the maroon, red and blue of the Blaugrana seems unfathomable.This is why Leo #Messi is the greatest player of all time. - honest Messi fan pic.twitter.com/KsQJimOME4— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 16, 2021However, despite his unquestionable loyalty, there have been several occasions when Lionel Messi has come close to leaving Barcelona.Five times Lionel Messi came close to leaving Barcelona:Each of these instances had varying degrees of probability, with some really close to happening, while others were mere media speculation. On that note, let's take a look at five times Lionel Messi came close to leaving Barcelona.#5 2003 (Probability: weak)Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut in 2004.In 2019, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed that the Gunners were interested in signing a then untested Lionel Messi in 2003.The Rosario native at that time was earning rave reviews in the Barcelona youth teams but was a year away from making his senior debut.Simply Messi pic.twitter.com/ZBfBBAP03T— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 17, 2021He had teammates like Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique. While the latter two left Spain for England within a year (before returning later), Lionel Messi stayed put and became a first-team regular in less than two years.Speaking to Being Sports in 2019 (as reported by FourFourTwo), Wenger said about Lionel Messi:“We were in discussions with Barcelona when we bought Fabregas, because Messi played (with him). You can realise sometimes what fantastic youth teams you had before when you’re a club like Barcelona. In the same team: Messi, (Gerard) Pique and Fabregas.''Considering that Lionel Messi was already ripping record books apart in Barcelona at that time, big things were expected of him. So, it is hardly feasible that the club would have sanctioned his sale to Arsenal.Moreover, Wenger has consistently claimed that the Emirates outfit were close to signing virtually every world-class player in the last two decades early on in their careers.In light of the same, Arsenal's reported interest in Lionel Messi 18 years ago might not have amounted to much.#4 June 2014 (Probability: weak)Lionel Messi had a close relationship with the late Tito Vilanova.The 2013-14 season was Lionel Messi's worst at Barcelona both on a personal as well as collective level.Barcelona lost in the final of the Copa del Rey to a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Real Madrid; Atletico Madrid ended their UEFA Champions League ambitions at the quarter-final stage and also wrested the La Liga from them on the final day of the season in front of a packed Camp Nou.It was also a campaign that saw Lionel Messi struggle with injuries, with four different fitness issues ruling him out for over three months during the campaign.There was also the issue of Tito Vilanova's battle with cancer weighing Messi down, and all that reportedly led to a feeling of weariness on the part of Messi, which reportedly made him consider leaving Barcelona.Vilanova's assistant Jordi Roura spoke about the incident in 2019 and said that the late Barcelona manager eventually convinced Messi to stay, saying:"It was a time when Tito was at a delicate point. and it's true that at that time. Leo wasn't clear on staying. They met, and although I wasn't there, I know they were talking for hours. From there, he changed his mind and saw some things more clearly. I don't know what they spoke about, but Messi decided to stay, and we hope he does for many years."There was no official bid for the 33-year-old, while he has also not publicly admitted to wanting to leave. So there was no real threat of Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona in 2014.