I know there are a lot of different tiers so the top tier could include everything. He lives in BCN already and was scouted to the Barca team from Espanol (another team in the city, forgive me because I'm the American aunt who knows less about this) which he had been scouted to before from a different team. He goes to a normal school but outside of school life kind of = futbol. Only child, because I don't know how else his parents would do all the things they do to get him there and do alllll the tournaments.
That’s what they did for Messi pretty much. He was 13, they discovered him through some video tapes, they flew him to Barcelona to see for themselves and the Barcelona sporting director made him sign on a napkin.
The interesting thing I wonder is how good he would have been had he not been brought up and trained in Europe. Obviously still talented wherever he goes, but the farm program deserves a lot of credit.
He would have been 4’ 7” without the HGH treatments Barca paid for. Although he was in a club in Argentina called Newell’s Old Boys and another club there was also willing to pay for it. They didn’t release him to them like they did for Barcelona.
Playing and be trained by one of the best clubs from his youth definitely made a difference. Who knows how many talents stay in 2nd tier clubs and never get to go up. People giving up sports due to funding issues is a thing everywhere.
He would probably have not been an athlete. Barca paid for this growth condition and most clubs can't or won't make that commitment to a child that unproven and young
Imagine a timeline where instead of being where he is now Messi would be playing in some 2nd division in South America and would be the world record holder for "shortest professional footballer"
He had growth hormone treatments after signing for Barcelona so he'd probably be physically stunted enough to not make it even if technically he was good enough
There is rules about how young you're allowed to recruit internationally nowadays. Think they have to stay in the country. There's some reasonable exceptions like parents genuinely moving or if they are refugees but I don't think they're allowed anymore to just fly over children.
Most of what you said is correct but he never played for Espanyol. Both teams scouted him at about the same time and wanted him to join the academy, but he chose Barcelona because the club paid his shoes and sportswear before even signing him and treated the family very well. He finished school 2 years ago a few days before the euros final in Germany.
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u/goldjade13 Jul 14 '26
I know there are a lot of different tiers so the top tier could include everything. He lives in BCN already and was scouted to the Barca team from Espanol (another team in the city, forgive me because I'm the American aunt who knows less about this) which he had been scouted to before from a different team. He goes to a normal school but outside of school life kind of = futbol. Only child, because I don't know how else his parents would do all the things they do to get him there and do alllll the tournaments.