Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi
Also In The News
|
Sir Menzies Campbell confronted party president Simon Hughes after he appeared to criticise his leadership, it has emerged. |  |
Monday, 22, May 2006 12:23
Age: 18
Position: Forward
Country: Argentina
Caps: 6
Goals: 1
Club: Barcelona
Former clubs: Grandoli, Newell's Old Boys
Estimated 'Chelsea-target' value: £30 million and the rest
In Maradona's words: I've seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentinean football and his name is Messi.
Argentina has a habit of producing diminutive talents capable of unlocking the most vigilant of defences with moments of exquisite technique - a precious commodity in the modern game.
Lionel Messi, Barcelona's prodigiously talented 18-year-old, may be too green to have the same impact in 2006 as Maradona had in 1986, who at the peak of his powers almost single-handedly won the World Cup in Mexico for Argentina, but the youngster possesses many of the attributes of the South American team's greatest ever player.
Deceptively strong, the 5ft 7in Messi has a preternatural gift for dribbling at high speed, a left foot blessed with a gift for the sublime, allied to a goal-scoring pedigree. Maradona clearly sees him as his heir apparent: "I've seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentinean football and his name is Messi. He is beautiful to watch - my kind of player in our blue and white jersey."
Unlike his predecessor, Messi possesses a clarity both on and off the pitch. Alongside his footballing ability, which led Spain's youth coach Inaki Saez to say that Messi "sees on the pitch what other people only see from the stands", he does not appear to share the destructive personality traits of Maradona. The teenager had to grow up quickly after moving to the Nou Camp from his home country at the age of 13 to receive treatment for a hormonal deficiency which was inhibiting bone growth. Apparently a quiet, unassuming character, Messi is unlikely to fritter away his undeniable ability in pursuit of hedonistic pleasure.
And, like Wayne Rooney before him, Lionel Messi has also shone at each grade he has been picked for. Whether becoming Barcelona's youngest goal scorer or making his international debut at 18, he has displayed a precocity which separates the potentially great from the good. Alan Hansen's infamous remark "you can't win anything with kids" could once again be proven wrong by a 'kid' who might just leave an indelible stamp on this year's tournament.
Kieran Mullins