When the upcoming club season begins, where can we expect to see Lionel Messi play?
FC Barcelona announced on their website on Thursday (5 August) that the Argentinian superstar will not be re-signing with the team for the upcoming season.
“Even though FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi have agreed on terms and both parties intend to sign a new contract today, they are unable to do so due to restrictions imposed by the Spanish LaLiga on the registration of players.
Messi will be leaving FC Barcelona as a result of this predicament. They both feel terrible about the fact that the player’s and the team’s dreams won’t come true.”
The Barcelona Club that Messi Helped Form
Messi joined Barcelona when he was 13 years old, and he has since won 10 Spanish Liga titles and four UEFA Champions Leagues with the team.
Even though he captained the Argentine men’s national football team to victory at the Copa America last month, the 34-year-contract old’s had already ended.
He also brought home the gold medal from the 2008 Olympics, which he has called his “most prized possession.”
Barcelona‘s Lionel Messi
The Spanish powerhouse Barcelona came through for him when he needed them most. The Catalan club could easily pay for Lionel Messi’s medical expenses, and their top-notch youth programme added to the appeal of a move there.
At the tender age of 13, Lionel Messi enrolled in Barcelona’s prestigious La Masia youth academy. Messi famously signed his first contract with FCB on a paper napkin at the insistence of Charly Rexach, the club’s then-first team director.
Talented enough to skip over Barca’s B and C squads, the Argentine made the jump to the first team in just four years.
On November 16, 2003, in the Estadio do Dragao in a midseason friendly, Lionel Messi made his debut for Barcelona’s first team against FC Porto, who were coached by Jose Mourinho at the time. The Portuguese squad won the game 2-0, but Messi, who had come on as a substitute in the 75th minute, was outstanding.
It didn’t take long for Lionel Messi to ink his first professional deal with Barcelona. On October 16, 2004, Messi made his professional debut as he entered the game as a substitute in the 82nd minute of a La Liga match against Espanyol.
Lionel Messi, aged 17 years, 3 months, and 22 days old, was the youngest player in Barcelona’s history to appear in a competitive match. The Argentine quickly became a first-team regular and, with the departure of Ronaldinho, became the club’s most prominent player.
Before his surprising departure to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, Lionel Messi set two club records by appearing in 778 games for Barcelona and scoring 672 goals.
Final Words
When playing for Barcelona, Lionel Messi amassed a record 10 La Liga titles and 4 UEFA Champions League crowns. His seven Ballon d’Or trophies were all for what he did while wearing a Barcelona jersey.
