How Barcelona found Messi
The story behind Messi's road to greatness
Charles Rexach
In some ways Charles Rexach is very much like Lionel Messi. He joined FC Barcelona’s youth team at the young age of 12 and made his debut for the first team at the age of 18, even scoring in his first appearance. He spent almost his entire playing career at Barcelona. A few years after his playing years ended he then joined the management staff at Barcelona. He had bouts as the manager for the youth teams as well as an assistant and interim manager before becoming the top manager for the first team. After all was said and done, he spent 44 years with the club.
For all he accomplished, you would think he would be remembered for the league titles or cups he won. However, what he’s most known for was his role as a Barcelona scout.
Soccer Scouting
During his time as soccer scout for one of the biggest clubs in the world, Charles Rexach was responsible for finding future stars. Soccer scouting overseas isn’t like typical U.S. sports. In the U.S. it’s pretty normal to play for a competitive team and high school ball before going on to be recruited by a D1 college. From there, you are then drafted to a professional sports league.
With international soccer, there is no such thing as a draft. Instead, clubs have their own youth academies where they find the best talent. Though not typical, it’s not unheard of for young talent to join youth teams of professional clubs at the age of 9 or 10. You are typically part of the youth academies at least until the age of 16. Players in the youth academies receive stipends for things like school and travel. One of the big differences between U.S. sports and international youth academies is that players don’t have to pay to play like in the U.S (though MLS academies now are free for youth). Around the age of 16 is when players become eligible to sign professional contracts and then make their way into the first team.
A fateful conversation
In 2000, Rexach was visiting South America and visiting Horacio Gaggioli, an Argentinian agent who was an expert in youth soccer. He had contacted Rexach about a young boy named Lionel Messi. At first Rexach didn’t want to bother with Messi, then a 13 year old. “I’m not going to watch him. It is just too difficult to sign someone that young.”
Since Messi wasn’t from the EU, he couldn’t qualify as an EU player. His father would have to get a job in Barcelona. A kid at that age from across the world had to be heads and shoulders above the other kids to make the signing worth the hassle. Physically, Messi was anything but that. He was small, scrawny, and had a growth hormone deficiency, which required expensive treatment. His father’s health insurance covered only two years of treatment, which cost $1,000 per month.
The club Messi was with in Argentina at the time wasn’t willing to pay for the treatment and one of the prominent clubs in Argentina, River Plate, was scouting Messi, but also declined to pay for his treatment. All of this was taking place during the Argentine Great Depression (1998-2002). The depression caused widespread unemployment, riots, and a default on the country’s foreign debt. During this time, the economy shrunk 28%. Finding a club that would pay for his treatments was paramount to ensure Messi’s playing career would extend past his early teenage years.
The Tryout
Despite all this, Rexach arranged for Messi to travel to Barcelona to have a tryout. When Messi first arrived in Barcelona, Rexach was on an international trip. Upon returning to Barcelona, he asked some of the other coaches if they thought they should sign Messi. Some of them said they should, but there was still the challenge of signing a non-EU player. The coaches couldn’t agree on whether to sign him or not, so Rexach set up a match so he could watch Messi and make a decision.
Rexach decided to put Messi up against kids two years older than him to see how he would do against older competition. Rexach recalls the match:
“The game was at 5pm on a weekday. I made it to the field at five sharp. You had to access the field from a corner, and just as I got there the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of the game. As I walked to the bench, I watched the game. I watched him play with every step I took. By the time I got to the bench, I had one message for my assistants: “We have to sign him.”
It took me five minutes to realize he was going to be a top-class player. I had been involved with football for many years, and had the opportunity to watch many brilliant young players – but Messi was completely different to everyone else. I had never seen anything like it. He did incredible things for a kid his age — the same things he still does match after match now, but at that size.”
Signing Messi
Over the next several weeks Messi continued to play with a number of the Barcelona youth teams while Rexach slogged through the bureaucracy of signing him, including convincing the club’s president. During that time, Messi broke his fibula, which added to the reasons to pass on him.
During that time of waiting, Messi’s dad called Rexach irritated, threatening to go back to Argentina if Barcelona didn’t sign Messi soon. The two of them decided to meet up at a tennis club to talk. During that meeting on December 14, 2000, Rexach wrote his commitment to signing Messi on a napkin. With the signing of Messi, Barcelona committed to paying for his medical treatments. His way was paved to becoming the greatest soccer player of all time.
Less than four years later on October 16th, 2004 Messi made his first appearance in official competition for the Barcelona first team at just 17 years, three months, and 22 days old. At the time, he was the youngest player to ever appear for Barcelona’s first team. He paved the way for young stars coming out of Barcelona. Since then players such as Gavi and Fati have appeared at a younger age than Messi. However, all have been beaten out by the young phenom Lamine Yamal, who at just 15 years of age made his Barcelona first team appearance in April 2023.
Messi’s Accomplishments
Messi is the most decorated soccer player ever. The following are his stats and accolades and he continues to add to these as we speak:
Ballon d’Or: 7
FIFA World Player of the Year: 7
European Golden Boot: 6
World Cup Golden Ball: 2
Champions League Top Scorer: 6
La Liga Top Scorer: 8
Champions League: 4
League Titles: 12
Domestic Cups: 7
World Cup: 1
Copa America: 1
Goals: 819
Assists: 344
Messi likely would have succeeded regardless because of his talent. However, there probably would have been many more obstacles to overcome given his growth deficiencies and the economic climate in Argentina at the time. The stars seemed to align and Rexach deserves at least a sliver of the credit for what Messi has become.
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