With more than 20 years as a professional player, Lionel Messi has experienced nearly every possible scenario in soccer, both at the club and international levels. However, a failed move to a team many years ago has remained vivid in his memory.
During an interview with Luzu TV published Monday on YouTube, the forward reflected on his childhood in Argentina and revealed that, between leaving Newell’s Old Boys and joining Barcelona to complete the growth treatment he needed, he came very close to playing for another Argentine club.
“I went to River Plate,” Messi explained. “I went on my own, trained there, and took part in a trial. After 10 days I went back, and River told me to stay — that they would take care of the treatment and that I would live in their residence.”
That opportunity offered an encouraging outlook for the Messi family, as it would have allowed the young Lionel to settle relatively close to his loved ones. River Plate are based in Buenos Aires, roughly 300 kilometers (about 180 miles) from the city of Rosario.
Lionel Messi playing for Barcelona against River Plate at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup.
However, Messi ran into an unexpected obstacle that prevented the move from being completed. “The only thing River told me was that they couldn’t do anything about my registration,” Messi recalled. “I had to go get my release from Newell’s Old Boys and come back with it in order to stay. When I went to ask Newell’s for the release, they didn’t give it to me. It was very difficult, and that ended everything. Luckily, that’s when Barcelona came along, which wasn’t in anyone’s plans.”
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Messi’s career could have been very different
Newell’s Old Boys’ refusal to grant his release prevented Lionel Messi from joining River Plate and ultimately pushed him to leave Argentina for Barcelona. That moment proved decisive in shaping the forward’s career, as he continued his development in Spain’s youth system before making his first-team debut in 2004 at just 17 years old.
Things undoubtedly would have been very different for Messi had that move to River Plate gone through. He would not have played alongside Xavi, Andres Iniesta, or Cesc Fabregas, but rather with stars who were at River Plate at the time, such as Radamel Falcao Garcia and Gonzalo Higuain. And while his path likely would have still led him to Europe through a transfer, Barcelona might not have been his destination.
Messi reflects on his struggles as a child
In the same interview, Messi also opened up about the years when his growth issues began to become evident. “I was 11 years old when I started the treatment, and it was very expensive,” Messi recalled. “Newell’s Old Boys said they would cover part of it, and the company my dad worked for would cover another part.”
Problems soon emerged, however. “My mom had to go every day to collect the money, and sometimes she would go and they’d tell her the person who had to pay her wasn’t there,” Messi explained. “That’s where my mom’s anger toward Newell’s came from — not really with the club itself, but with the people who were there at the time. That’s why I had to leave Newell’s for Barcelona and the family was split up.”
