messi was 17 when he started his career.
messi was 17 when he started his career.
how old was messi when he started his career?
17
born and raised in central argentina, messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child. at age 13, he relocated to spain to join barcelona, who agreed to pay for his medical treatment. after a fast progression through barcelona's youth academy, messi made his competitive debut aged 17 in october 2004. despite being injury-prone during his early career, he established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years, finishing 2007 as a finalist for both the ballon d'or and fifa world player of the year award, a feat he repeated the following year. his first uninterrupted season was 2008–09, during which he helped barcelona achieve the first treble in spanish football. at 22 years old, messi won the 2009 ballon d'or and the 2009 fifa world player of the year award by record voting margins. three successful seasons followed, with messi winning three consecutive fifa ballons d'or, including an unprecedented fourth. during the 2011–12 season, he set the la liga and european records for most goals scored in a single season, while establishing himself as barcelona's all-time top scorer in official competitions in march 2012. the following two seasons, messi finished twice second for the ballon d'or behind cristiano ronaldo, his perceived career rival. messi regained his best form during the 2014–15 campaign, breaking the all-time goalscoring records in both la liga and the champions league in november 2014, and leading barcelona to a historic second treble.
lionel messi
a prodigious talent as a teenager, messi established himself among the world's best players before age 20. diego maradona considered the 18-year-old messi the best player in the world alongside ronaldinho, while the brazilian himself, shortly after winning the ballon d'or, commented, "i'm not even the best at barça," in reference to his protégé. four years later, after messi had won his first ballon d'or by a record margin, the public debate regarding his qualities as a player moved beyond his status in contemporary football to the possibility that he was the greatest player in history. an early proponent was his then-manager pep guardiola, who, as early as august 2009, declared messi to be the best player he had ever seen. in the following years, this opinion gained greater acceptance among pundits, managers, former and current players, and by the end of barça's second treble-winning season, messi's superiority, ahead of maradona and pelé, had become the predominant view among insiders in continental europe. a frequent dismissal, however, has centred on the fact that messi has not won the fifa world cup with argentina, leading some in the sport to instead cite him as the best club player in history.throughout his career, messi has been compared with his compatriot diego maradona, due to their similar playing styles as diminutive, left-footed dribblers. initially, he was merely one of many young argentine players, including his boyhood idol pablo aimar, to receive the "new maradona" moniker, but as his career progressed, messi proved his similarity beyond all previous contenders, establishing himself as the greatest player argentina had produced since maradona. jorge valdano, who won the 1986 world cup alongside maradona, said in october 2013, "messi is maradona every day. for the last five years, messi has been the maradona of the world cup in mexico." césar menotti, who as manager orchestrated their 1978 world cup victory, echoed this sentiment when he opined that messi plays "at the level of the best maradona". other notable argentines in the sport, such as osvaldo ardiles, javier zanetti, and diego simeone, have expressed their belief that messi has overtaken maradona as the best player in history.
lionel messi