There's A Reason Why Lionel Messi Has A Manuel Lanzini Shirt In His Collection

Earlier this week, Lionel Messi gave us all a glimpse into his chamber of football shirts.

The likes of Gerard Pique, Raul, Francesco Totti and Luis Suarez all featured in the collection. It was quite impressive to say the least.

If you've managed to take a look at the picture, then you probably noticed two rather unusual names among the wall of superstars.

Ajax's Nicolai Boilesen.managed to make Messi's collection, and even he couldn't believe his luck.

The Danish defender took to Instagram shortly after the upload went viral, racking up a ridiculous 3 million likes on the social media platform:

Boilesen posted an image of a framed Messi shirt accompanied with the words, '"Forced' to put this on the Wall now" while weighing in on the discussion of his greatness by effectively calling him the GOAT.

Another player who made the collection was West Ham United's Manuel Lanzini, who was just as shocked as Boilesen when he made the GOAT's wall.

But it turns out there's a reason behind the madness.

An Instagram photo from January 2016 shows both Messi and Lanzini with each other's shirts.

Lanzini told West Ham's official website the following after Messi's collection went viral:

"It's amazing, because the best player in the world put my t-shirt on there! I could not believe it."

"I would not say we are friends, but I met him one time in Barcelona because we have a mutual friend and that's when it happened. He gave me his t-shirt and I gave him my t-shirt and he's a very good person. It's good!"

We are extremely jealous, Manuel.

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_