Chapter 88 Messi
The video quality is not clear enough, but it is still clear enough when paired with an outdated monitor.
The content of the picture is a football game.
A short player faced a defensive player who was much taller than him and looked almost an adult, but he dribbled the ball skillfully and passed the opponent in one go.
Not only the first time, but also in the subsequent direct dialogues, the short player easily passed the opponent and won rounds of applause.
Yang Hao also vaguely heard someone outside the screen shouting, "Well done, Leon!"
This video is edited and there is a game behind it.
This time the opponent was obviously shorter, looking to be between 14 and 16 years old. As a result, the short boy dribbled past the opponent frequently with the ball, almost as easily as picking up a blade of grass, and it was a continuous dribbling process.
In the end, the team the little boy was on defeated their opponent 15-0.
He scored 10 goals by himself.
…
"Wow, my God, watching this kid play football gives me goosebumps."
Juanma Lillo showed an expression of disbelief.
Because it's really amazing.
"Is this from South America?" Lillo guessed.
Only South American players have such technical ability, especially the kind of continuous dribbling, which is so easy.
Mendiodoro glanced at Yang Hao and laughed, "From River Plate, Argentina."
"A River Plate player?" Lillo was a little surprised. "No wonder, this kid is a genius."
"No, he was on trial at River Plate and our scouts followed him and filmed him."
Mendiodoro did not reveal the whole story. The truth was that Yang Hao told him that there was a young genius in the youth team of Newell's Old Boys Club in Argentina.
How do you know?
Yang Hao said that he had seen a video of the International Friendship Cup Championship held in Lima, the capital of Peru in 1996. The participating teams were all teenagers around 10 years old.
Newell's Old Boys' youth team performed very well in the Argentine domestic championship, was invited to participate and won the championship, and Leon Messi, who was only 9 years old at the time, shined in this event.
Yang Hao suggested that Mendiodoro go to Newell's Old Boys to see the development of this young player.
When the scouts that Mendiodor worked with went to Newell's Old Boys, they didn't find Messi. They went to River Plate for a trial, so the scouts shifted their target to River Plate in Buenos Aires.
That's how I took this video.
"How old is this boy?" Juanma Lillo asked in surprise.
"13 years old."
"He's too short, much shorter than his teammates."
"Yes, we also heard from Newell's Old Boys that he has always been playing with players older than him, because players of the same age or only one or two years older than him can basically not challenge him."
When Liluo heard this, he immediately became excited and said, "Then sign him quickly. This guy is a genius."
Yang Hao remained silent, but was secretly happy. Anyone who saw Messi playing football would think he was a genius.
It doesn't even have to be long, just a minute or two.
But after hearing this, Mendiodoro's face darkened. "He is sick."
"Who? Who's sick?"
"Messi, suffering from growth hormone deficiency."
When Juanma Lillo heard this, he was completely dejected.
This means that it will be difficult for Messi to grow taller.
"How could this happen?" Li Luo shook his head speechlessly, looking a little frustrated.
Yang Hao took over at this time, "Are you injecting growth hormone?"
When Liluo heard this, his eyes lit up immediately. "Yes, growth hormone, do you have it?"
"Yes, I have been injecting it since 1997."
"How do you know?" Liluo asked again.
"Messi's father has been worried about this. After deducting insurance and subsidies, the treatment costs him $1,000 a month."
After a pause, Mendiodoro continued, "According to information obtained by the scouts, his father works for a state-owned enterprise in Argentina. For the past two years, he has been relying on insurance and union assistance to support Messi's treatment costs. But now that the insurance and assistance have stopped, they can no longer afford the treatment costs."
"Where's Newell's Old Boys?" Lillo was curious. "A player like that deserves several thousand dollars a month. There's no reason not to pay him."
Anyone can see the talent, how could they not give it?
"Newell's Old Boys is controlled by local Argentine mafia gangs. Messi's brother used to be a very promising player and played for Newell's Old Boys, but was later sold to Cordoba Central by the club's technical director. This offended Puppo, the technical director of Newell's Old Boys."
"The current situation is that Newell's Old Boys promised to pay for Messi's treatment, but in fact, Messi's father only received $300 in the past three years. That's why his father took him to River Plate for a trial. At the same time, he is also actively contacting agents, scouts and agents, hoping to attract more teams."
"What's the attitude of the riverbed?"
"I've learned that they don't have the budget for this. There are so many children in Argentina who don't grow tall every year, many of whom are very good at playing football, some even from River Plate's own youth training. If they pay this fee for Messi, what will happen to the others?"
Everyone understood immediately.
The king of Argentine football is Maradona. Over the years, many fans have talked about the fact that Argentina has produced many Maradona IIs, a group of players who are not tall but have excellent skills.
Little do people know that what is reflected behind this is the sadness of the entire country of Argentina.
"Our scouts have reported that Messi's father has contacted the famous agent José María Minguella, who is trying to get Messi to try out for Barcelona."
Mendiodoro further explained, “It was Minguella who brought Maradona to Barcelona.”
Everyone suddenly understood that if Barcelona took action, what would Atletico Madrid do?
"What are their demands?" Yang Hao asked the question that concerned him most.
"A house, two jobs, and hopefully help Messi's older brother Rodrigo find a football team, as well as schools for Messi, his second brother and his younger sister, and all the medical expenses for Messi."
At the end of his speech, Mendiodoro felt a little embarrassed because he was asking for too much.
After hearing this, Liluo frowned.
"The rent for a house like this for a family is at least €50,000 a year. They have two jobs and school, which is very troublesome. At the same time, we have to help them deal with the complicated procedures for going abroad and getting work visas. And Messi's treatment costs at least €20,000 a year."
According to a rough calculation by Lillo, the annual expenditure is almost 100,000 euros.
Is this a lot of money?
Of course Yang Hao knew that it was actually not much, especially compared with Messi's future achievements, it was a drop in the bucket.
But in the current situation, especially for Atletico Madrid, it is really a lot.
After Atletico Madrid had a big sale this summer, they also allocated a large sum of money to the youth training camp this year. What is the total budget?
5 million euros.
But how much can be done with 5 million euros?
With so many youth teams, how much budget can each team get?
For players like Ramos, Atletico Madrid has actually done a very good job and has invested quite a lot.
As for Messi, it has to be said that there is no such precedent in European football.
Of course, if Messi joined the team early and was found to be ill, and the club paid the money, that would be another matter.
In today's European football, how many teams are willing to pay for a player who suffers from growth hormone deficiency and is destined to be short and short in the future?
Healthy players like David Silva were rejected by Real Madrid in the trials just because they were a little short and thin.
You can imagine the current mainstream football environment.
If this is the case in Spain, a country that values technology, it will be even more outrageous in Italy, the Premier League and Germany.
Yang Hao had read Messi's autobiography in his previous life. He knew that Barcelona signed Messi more because of the personal relationship between his agent Minguella and Barcelona senior executive Rexach.
Messi later signed an unequal 12-year contract with Barcelona, including 3 years of non-professional work, mainly to pay for medical treatment. It was not until 2003 that he officially signed a professional contract for 9 years with a pitifully low annual salary.
It was not until Messi shined in the World Youth Championship and the contract was deemed an unequal treaty by the court that Barcelona signed a new professional contract with Messi.
But even so, Barcelona did not fulfill its promise after signing Messi and bringing Messi's family to Barcelona.
First of all, when it came to paying for medical treatment, Barcelona adopted a procrastination tactic.
Messi's first medical expenses were paid out of the pockets of the Barcelona director who was optimistic about Messi at the time. Later, Messi's father Jorge waited for several months and could not bear it anymore, so he wrote several letters directly to Barcelona president Gaspart, forcing Barcelona to pay for the treatment.
Many of the things promised, including finding jobs for Messi's parents, finding a team for Messi's older brother, and finding a school for his children, were actually done quite perfunctorily.
Although the autobiography was rather euphemistic, from the beginning to the end, Barcelona never took this deal seriously.
Because Barcelona was in chaos at the time and couldn't take care of itself.
But later Messi came into his own, and everyone rushed to take the credit, which naturally became a situation where everyone was happy. But what if Messi hadn't come into his own at that time?
"Why are you all looking at me?"
Yang Hao was very surprised. The office suddenly fell into a dead silence, and Mendiodoro, Lillo, Parales and others were all looking at him, as if waiting for him to say something and make the decision.
"Messi is indeed very good, but..." Lillo was a little worried.
"Then let our scouts contact them and test their attitude. I guess they are desperate now and should not refuse." Yang Hao stated his decision.
Everyone looked at Yang Hao in surprise.
If we really want to sign Messi, the annual expenditure will be quite high.
With such expenses, Yang Hao certainly cannot make the decision on his own and must obtain approval from the board of directors.
"I'll talk to the board. Cesar, you should have the scouts talk to Messi's father and try to get them to come to Atletico Madrid for a trial. A talented player like him cannot be burdened by illness under any circumstances."
Yang Hao spoke with great righteousness, and Mendiodoro, Lillo and others admired him very much.
This is a pure football man!
But they didn't know that Yang Hao was more worried now. Would Messi's father be willing to come to Atletico Madrid?
After all, Atletico Madrid is not as wealthy as Barcelona, and it just experienced a bankruptcy crisis last season, so it is really difficult to give people a sense of trust.
But no matter what, that's Messi.
Ronaldo has already slipped away. If Messi slips away from under his nose again, Yang Hao will really regret it.
