“The teammates we have are incredible” - Keylor Navas’ old comments on Lionel Messi after joining Real Madrid resurface amid fresh Barcelona links

Keylor Navas' quotes about teaming up with Barcelona legend Lionel Messi are back in the news. With the former Real Madrid goalkeeper linked with the Catalan club, the Costa Rican's old comments have resurfaced.

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has suffered a patellar tendon injury. The timeline for his return could be anywhere between seven to nine months.

Former Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas has emerged as a leading candidate to sign for the Catalan club in light of this news. The 37-year-old is open to sign for any club as he is a free agent after leaving Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.

With links to Barcelona for the goalkeeper, his comments about not wanting to team up with Lionel Messi during his peak have resurfaced. Back in 2017, Navas was playing with Real Madrid while Lionel Messi was starring for rivals, Barcelona.

However, Navas didn't want to team up with the Argentinian at the time. When asked if he would want Real Madrid to sign Messi, GiveMeSport quoted him as saying:

"He is a great player, but the teammates we have are incredible too. So no."

Navas was speaking about the club's famed BBC attacking trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Gareth Bale, that rivaled Barca's MSN - Messi, Neymar Jr. and Luis Suarez - at the time.

Lionel Messi could have signed for Real Madrid instead of Barcelona

Lionel Messi is currently playing for Major League Soccer (MLS) side Inter Miami. In the summer he won the Copa America with Argentina for the second time in his career.

However, the 8-time Ballon d'Or winner's career trajectory could have been very different according to his former agent Horacio Gaggioli.

The agent claims to have played a role in bringing Messi to Spain. Daily Mail reported an interview of his, given to Globoesporte, where he spoke about how a stroke of luck resulted in Lionel Messi not signing for Real Madrid.

He shared his own life story that he was about to live in Madrid, but due to personal reasons resided in Catalonia. It was because of this that he arranged a trial for the forward at the Catalan club and not Los Blancos.

"Due to life circumstances, I went to live in Barcelona and I brought him to Barca for a trial. But I was about to live in Madrid. If that had happened, I would have taken him to Madrid for a trial," he recalled. "That's life, those are the details. Today, Messi could have been a Real Madrid player, of course."

One can only imagine what could have transpired had Messi joined Real Madrid.