The Argentine boss shared details of a short-lived plan to hire his compatriot and how it had Luis Suárez as a key figure to do so.

Diego Simeone has always been praised for his unfiltered and flamboyant personality, and this time he decided to share a "What if..." moment with Atlético fans via an interview with Argentine newspaper Olé.

In what turned out to be quite a candid interview, the Argentine tactician admitted that he kept up to speed with what was going on with Lionel Messi at Barcelona, and once he learned that "La Pulga" was set to leave Los Culés, he tried to make a run for his signing.

"Let me tell you something. A couple of months ago, with everything that was going on at Barcelona, we called Luis (Suárez). With all due respect, I did not call Leo, but I did call Luis to ask him how Messi was feeling, if he was in the mood to talk and if there was a slight possibility to get him to play for Atlético," Simeone said.

Despite Simeone's wishes, the plan did not succeed due to PSG's relentless pursuit of the footballer, which eventually resulted in his signing with Les Parisiens.

"It was something that lasted three hours, mainly because PSG were already obsessed with his signing. You ask if it led to something? No, nothing. We just watched his plane in the sky and said 'oh, here he goes!'" Simeone added.

The current La Liga champion with Los Colchoneros urged people to think about Messi as a cog in his team, and not as the entire engine so he can lead his club -or his national team- to success.

"If you ask me where Messi has to play to win, I'd tell you that he should do so in a team that wants to win. He should play for a team that knows what it has to do to win. I don't care where they put him, what really matters is to have a team that is ready to win. Don't think only about him, think about the team," Simeone concluded.