Lionel Messi's Youth Record For Newell's Old Boys Is Astonishing

Lionel Messi was a goalscoring phenomenon from a very early age, with details of the Argentine's youth record doing the rounds.

Messi started the early part of his youth career with boyhood club Newell's Old Boys in Rosario before going on to move to the famed La Masia academy as a 14-year old - his first Barcelona contract actually being written out on a napkin.

And now, all those years later, Miguel Martínez, a former press officer for the Rosario Football Association, took it upon himself to find out the numbers Messi produced as a youngster.

Accessing a whole host documents from the archives as part of his investigation, Martinez uncovered that Messi notched an outrageous 234 goals in 176 games between the years 1994 and 1999, according to Ole.

In his first year playing, a six-year old Messi was truly unplayable and fired 40 goals in 29 games. He continued to bang in more goals than he played games and his most impressive campaign in his final year when he boasted a sublime tally of 55 goals in 29 appearances.

With Messi producing the good in attack, Newell's went the whole season unbeaten - winning 26 and drawing three in a stellar season.

His form as a young kid really did set the tone for his glittering professional career.

Without going all Pele and counting every goal he scored in the park, Messi has 703 official goals in 867 games for club and country, while also has 298 assists and six Ballon d'Ors for good measure.

Of course, his remarkable record includes that disgusting year of 2012 where he scored 91 goals in 69 games.

After a disappointing campaign for the Blaugrana in 2019/20, Messi's future at Barcelona is up in the air at the moment and there is hope from Newell's that he will return one day.

Speaking about a potential homecoming for Messi, Old Boys chief Cristian D'Amico told TNT Sports: "I don't know if it's impossible.

"It's a decision exclusively made by him and his family. We have to have the best possible context to help make a decision.

"When [Diego] Maradona came to Newell's, nobody thought that he would come either. I hope to do something similar with Leo."

Topics: Football News, FC Barcelona, Football, Lionel Messi

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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