Lionel Messi is a bad man in the global sport of soccer. He plays the game flawlessly, like a musical virtuoso plays his or her instrument.
Seeing him in action is a combination of athletic prowess and poetry in motion. Messi has become a global Phenom, considered by many to be the best to ever play the game in addition to being the world’s highest paid athlete.
Lionel Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe, he is the third of four children, his father Jorge father is of Italian and Spanish descent and on his mother’s also has roots that trace back to Europe.
Growing up in a tight-knit, football-loving family, Messi developed a passion for the sport early on, playing constantly with his older brothers and cousins, Maximiliano and Emanuel Biancucchi, both of whom later became professional soccer players
At the age of four he joined local club Grandoli, in Argentina where he was coached by his father, though his earliest influence as a player came from his maternal grandmother, Celia, who accompanied him to training and matches.
When it came to soccer, it was a family affair with the Messi’s. Just before Messi’s 11th birthday, his beloved grandma passed, this greatly affected him, since then, as a devout Catholic, he has celebrated his goals by looking up and pointing to the sky in tribute to his grandmother.
“When you saw him you would think: this kid can’t play ball. He’s a dwarf, he’s too fragile, too small. But immediately you’d realize that he was born different, that he was a phenomenon and that he was going to be something impressive.”– Said Adrián Coria Messi’s coach when he was 12 years old.
A lifelong supporter of Newell’s Old Boys, Messi joined the Rosario club when he was six years old. During the six years he played for Newell’s, he scored almost 500 goals as a member of “The Machine of ’87”
At the tender age of just 1o years old, Messi’s future as a professional player was threatened when he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.
As his father’s health insurance covered only two years of growth hormone treatment, which cost $900 a month, Newell’s agreed to contribute, but later reneged on their promise.
He was then scouted by Buenos Aires club River Plate, whose playmaker, Pablo Aimar, he idolised, but they declined to pay for his treatment.
Finally Barcelona showed interest in Messi and they were willing to pay for his medical treatment, they invited Messi to join the club’s academy and he did (with his parents approval because of his age), that Messi was able to afford the treatment he needed.
The Young Messi signs his first ever professional contract on a napkin:
Superstar Lionel Messi incredibly signed his first professional contract on a napkin, which exist to this day.
When little Messi hopped across the Atlantic Ocean from Argentina to Spain with Barcelona calling, it took just one trial match to convince Carles Rexach, Barca’s sporting director that Messi was their little guy.
Rexach quickly scribbled down the contract on the napkin to snap the 13-year-old up.
It read: “In Barcelona, on Dec. 14, 2000, in the presence of [Josep Maria] Minguella and Horacio [Gaggioli], Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona’s sporting director, hereby agrees, under his responsibility and regardless of any dissenting opinions, to sign the player Lionel Messi provided that we keep to the amounts agreed upon.”
In 2001, the Messi family relocated to Barcelona, they moved into an apartment near the club’s stadium. During his first year in Spain, Messi rarely played with the Infantiles due to a transfer conflict with Newell’s; as a foreigner.
Without football, he struggled to integrate into the team; already reserved by nature, he was so quiet that his teammates initially believed he was mute.
At home, he suffered from homesickness after his mother moved back to Rosario with his brothers and little sister, María Sol, while he stayed in Barcelona with his father.
After a year at Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, Messi was enrolled in the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in 2002, playing in all competitions.
After completing his growth hormone treatment aged 14, Messi became an integral part of the “Baby Dream Team”, Barcelona’s greatest-ever youth league.
During his first full season (2002–03), he was top scorer with 36 goals in 30 games for the Cadetes A, who won an unprecedented treble of the league and both the Spanish and Catalan cups.
A week after suffering a broken cheekbone during a league match, Messi was allowed to start the game on the condition that he wear a plastic protector; soon hindered by the mask, he took it off and scored two goals in 10 minutes before his substitution.
At the close of the season, he received an offer to join Arsenal, his first from a foreign club, but while Fàbregas and Piqué soon left for England, he chose to remain in Barcelona.
Billion Dollar Man:
Spanish newspaper El Mundo claims it has obtained a copy of Lionel Messi’s Barcelona contract, saying figures confirm the star player’s deal is the biggest in sports history.
According to the report, Messi would receive a maximum of €555,237,619 (US$673,919,105) over four seasons, if a series of conditions were met. In Total he banked over $1 billion during his 21 years at FC Barcelona in Spain, including $875 million in salary alone.
Other Facts:
- Messi claimed the Ballon d’Or as the world’s best soccer player for a record seventh time in 2021, putting him two ahead of his rival Cristiano Ronaldo
- Messi signed a new contract on May 19, 2014, which increased his salary to €36 million before taxes, the highest wage ever in the sport at the time
- He transferred to Paris Saint-Germain from FC Barcelona in August 2021, leaving the only professional home he had ever known
- Messi won his third FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2011, becoming only the fourth player in history to win the Ballon d’Or three time
- Messi holds the Guinness World Records title for his91 goals scored in a calendar year, back in 2012
- In 2012, Messi won the FIFA Ballon d’Or for a record fourth time, becoming the first ever player to do so. This was his fourth consecutive win
- A contract leak in January 2021 showed Messi was making much more at Barcelona than previously thought; he was able to earn up to $165 million annually in salary and incentives
- He has won six Golden Balls (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019), six Golden Boots (2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019) and The Best award in 2019, among others.
- He received the Guinness World Records title for most goals scored in a calendar year
- At just 20 years old, Messi received the nickname of “Messiah” from the Spanish media after his incredible performances.
- In March 2022, he signed an endorsement deal with fan engagement app Socios that is set to pay him $20 million annually
- He won an Olympic gold medal, along with the Argentinian football team, at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing
- He launched his own clothing line and opened his first retail outlet, the Messi Store, in 2019 in Barcelona. He also has a lifelong deal with Adidas
