There’s no reason the five-time Ballon d’Or winner couldn’t star in England, but he’d need to be tougher mentally than ever before.

With Lionel Messi running his contract down towards its final year, speculation will inevitably increase that he could finally move to the Premier League.

It probably won’t happen, not least because the Barcelona star knows himself that making the move would be ditching the club who gave him everything for the sole purpose of massaging his own ego by showing up Cristiano Ronaldo.

He might also look at Pep Guardiola and wonder if his former manager’s reputation would have been greater if he had stayed at Barca and created a Fergie-like dynasty.

But would Messi have anything to worry about if he did come to the Premier League? In terms of the quality of the division, he shouldn’t do. It would be strange if someone who has managed over 70 goals in a season couldn’t perform in a league which hasn’t seen a team reach the Champions League final for almost five years.

However, he’d need to be aware of the demand of Premier League viewers for action. Messi would be expected to continuously take players on and fire shots at goal, rather than keeping to Spanish instincts of retaining possession and bringing teammates into play.

The change in style of play is a small challenge that Messi would probably overcome. But the mental challenges of being a top player in the Premier League are huge.

Messi would be moving from a league that wants him to succeed to one that wants him to fail.

From afar, English fans see Messi as a hero and maybe the greatest player ever. But if he comes closer to home, he’ll be the mollycoddled princess over here to show our game up, and we will all want him taken down a peg.

Earlier in the season, a friend went to Sevilla v Barcelona and watched the game with the home fans. Anyone who saw the match on TV would have agreed Messi put in a fantastic performance and almost single-handedly won a crucial game.

But coming back from the stadium, the Watford season ticket holder said: “I’ve never hated a player so much in my life. He rolls around on the floor, he sulks and, worst of all, the game had to stop for five minutes just so Lionel Messi could put his shoe on.”

In England, any of this behaviour would stand out like a sore thumb, and there would be no protection from an FA who always bow to public pressure to make an example of the most talented individuals – as the likes of John Terry, Luis Suarez, Diego Costa and Jose Mourinho will tell you.

Where La Liga sees the value of hyping up the top players to allow them to reach even greater heights, English football places more value on the team and has a chronic case of what Guillem Balague calls the ‘tall-poppy syndrome’.

We build players up, watch them flourish, enjoy seeing them reach a certain level and then decide ‘you shall go no further’. And that’s just how we treat players who we know and love.

We have never had a player come over and be rammed down our throats as the ‘greatest of all time’ before. To live up to that tag among the English public, Messi would have to do nothing less than be the top scorer every season and consistently win the league.

Only a select few players have come to the Premier League, been targeted by the public and the media and got through it with their reputation enhanced. Luis Suarez couldn’t manage it and Diego Costa is struggling.

Make no mistake, if Messi ever appeared in a British court for tax fraud, he would be like a Christian in Ancient Rome in front of the English fans, media and Football Association.

Players that come to mind as having overcome the immense pressure of English football and earned the public’s respect include Jurgen Klinsmann, Eric Cantona and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo.

It may seem a long time ago now, but Ronaldo once had Adrian Durham calling for Wayne Rooney to punch him in the face on the Man United training ground after helping Portugal knock England out of the World Cup.

When you’ve walked through that kind of storm and come out with more belief and determination than ever before, that’s when you really know you have made it in the Premier League.

Stoke on a cold Tuesday night would be the least of Messi’s worries.