Some decisions can be a life-changer for a club or a player. If not, just look at Barcelona and Lionel Messi. Joining their paths has completely changed the course of history, as neitherof them would be in the same place if they had not commited to each other 22 years ago.
Back then, the LaLiga giants were attracted by the talent of a 13-year-old sensation who shone at the academy of Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys. And it turned out that bringing him in to La Masia was probably the best decision they’ve ever made.
Messi moved to Spain as akid and left more than two decades later as one of the greatest, if not the best player to have worn the Blaugrana shirt. However, it seems that things could have gone completely different for Messi if Barca had backed down.
This is how Messi’s career could have been different
The story of Messi signing for Barcelona is quite famous. He joined the club’s academy when he was just 13 after an agreement was reached in a restaurant, where his first contract was signed in a napkin.
However, Guillem Balague told Le Parisien that the deal was in jeopardy whenJavier Pérez Farguell took over as Barca’s sporting director as he considered the offer was too excessive. Meanwhile, Jorge Valdano kept tabs on this situation to bring Leo to Real Madrid.
Even though Los Blancos were apparently willing to offer more money to Messi,Valdano didn’t want to get into trouble with Barcelona, thus Real Madrid never made an official offer. As we know, Barca have ultimately signed Messiand the rest is history.
