Lionel Messi Biography

Born in the Santa Fe province of Argentina in a family where soccer was king, Lionel Messi started kicking the ball at an early age and when he was just 5 years old, he joined the training sessions of the club his father was coaching at that time, Grandoli.Although he was close to his father at Grandoli, they both knew this club would not be one to offer the young boy a future as a soccer player, so his father decided to take him to one of the most prestigious youth academies in Argentina, that of Newell's Old Boys. This happened in 1995, when Leonel Messi was just 8 years old.
In three years later, Messi was already showing promise and he was considered a huge future talent, but unfortunately he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency that could be treated, but its cost would be around $700 per month and the Messi family simply did not have that kind of money.River plate, one of the other strong Argentinean teams wanted to pay for Messi's treatment, but they couldn't afford it either, with the Argentinean economy collapsing. Fortunately for the young player, FC Barcelona, who was already scouting him, learned of his problem and decided to help out and put the life of Leonel Messi back on its rightful track. Messi soon signed with Barcelona's youth team and moved to Spain for his treatment.Recovering from his growth deficiency problem, the Argentinean started playing regularly for FC Barcelona's youth squad and in a few years, he was taken to the B squad of Barcelona, where Lionel Messi's goals started placing the spotlight on him once again.

Lionel Messi