Denis: There's no one in the world who can do what Messi does

Denis Suarez decided to look for a winter exit from Barcelona due to a lack of Camp Nou minutes. His preference was the Premier League and following interest from Unai Emery's Arsenal he made the switch to England. 

"My objective is to be a success here, to do well, to feel important and I hope I can be a reference at this club," Denis said in an interview with Arsenal's in-house media. 

In said interview, Denis looked back over his career and said that his target had always been to play for Barça. 

"I'm not going to deny it, I always wanted to play for Barça," he added. "If you'd offered me the chance to sign for Barça and to play for the B team for one year and have three years with the first team, I wouldn't have thought twice.

"I went up from the B team to train with the first team some times. Tata Martino was the coach. I remember Xavi, Iniesta, Messi... Maybe they're references for me. The first time I shared the pitch with them was a dream come true. 

"When I went to Villarreal, I went with the intention of playing, of having an incredible season, because I knew if I did Barça would come back for me. And that's what happened. I was lucky to play a lot at Villarreal, to have a great season and the next year I returned to Barça." 

Denis also praised who he considered the best player in the world, Lionel Messi. 

"You can see Messi and you can believe that you can do things like him but only he can do these things," he said. "You can see him make moves and do things that you also want to do but there's no one in the world who can do what he does." 

At Arsenal, Denis is reunited with Emery, who he played under at Sevilla: "Unai made me a football player. At that time, I arrived as a player with promise. I joined from Barça B, but to jump to the elite is never easy and he helped me a lot." 

So far, Denis has made five appearances for Arsenal -- two in the Europa League and three in the Premier League -- but they have all been from the bench.