There's an excellent article on Messi in the latest issue of Four Four Two. Some of the more interesting bits:
- Six months ago Messi was playing for Barclelona's B team. After watching Messi star for Argentina in the U20 World Championships in Holland last summer, LaPorta hot-footed over to Holland, improved Messi's contract from about £100,000 a year to £3m a year. The deal runs 'til 2014 and has a £100 million buyout clause, which is the same as Ronaldinho's.
- He gets along well with the Brazilian players at Barcelona. Ronaldinho calls him "my little brother". Sylvinho is like a second father to him and Deco takes him shopping. Even though he's Argentinian, he gets invited to sit at the "Brazilian table" at the training ground/at hotels.
- He was born and raised a couple of hundred miles outside of Buenos Aires. He was diagnosed with growth problems when he was 11, had to inject himself with hormones every night for 2 years. The treatment cost $1,800 every 2 months. When the Argentinian club he was afiiliated with refused to pay for the treatment, Messi's family visited cousins of his in Spain (the family has Catalan roots). Barcelona was alerted to his talent by one of their Argentinian scouts, Messi went for a trial, and the rest is history. Barca paid for his treatment. He grew by a centimetre a month for almost 3 years, reaching 5'6". Other clubs were becoming interested in him and Messi's father says that a man introduced himself as an assistant of Wenger and told him that if they had problems to remember that Arsenal was very interested.
- He has a low-key lifestyle, lives in a modest rented flat close to the Nou Camp with his sister-in-law and brother, who works as a cook in a Barcleona hotel. He doesn't go out much, prefers to stay home listening to music, watching TV, surfing the net and he wants to learn English.
- Maradona's advice to Messi: "Don't pay attention when journalists compare you with me. I've seen what you've done in the U20 World Cup. You knew Argentina was just you and you coped with that without problems. Only a few players can stand that sort of pressure".
- Maradona's comments on Messi on his Argentine TV show - "I've seen the guy who is going to inherit my place in Argentinian football and his name is Messi.