A tremor of sorts was felt throughout the football world when Barcelona and Lionel Messi couldn’t come through with a mutual contract agreement, ending a Herculean legacy of the little genius and a monumental era in the history of the club.
It was only two days ago, when news outlets predicted Messi to play in the Joan Gamper Trophy clash against Juventus over the weekend. Now with his future in the air and the Blaugrana in financial shambles, one can only speculate what will happen in a couple of days.
This will be the Bianconeri’s second visit in the Gamper trophy, with the first coming in 2005. It was in that match where Messi first came into prominence at the Camp Nou infront of 91,626 spectators, who witnessed the rise of a star. Juventus were the first big club he took down.
A star-studded Bianconeri side with maestros such as Lillian Thuram, Nedved, Cannavaro, Del Piero, and full-back Federico Balzaretti – who the 17-year-old prodigy flirted with throughout his time on the field. Fabio Capello managed Juventus then.
Speaking to the press in 2015, Capello recalled watching Messi play for the first time: “I remember when I saw his name in the line-up. And from the start, I was blown away, that a player of his age could play like that, before 90,000 fans. His personal quality, dribbling, fantasy. He grabbed the ball and went straight for goal with an unusual audacity.”
It was under Frank Rijkaard that Messi made his career debut. Capello liked him so much that he approached his former player Rijkaard, with who he etched a majestic partnership at AC Milan a decade ago, half way into the first half.
Capello said: “After 25 minutes of the match I approached Rijkaard and asked for the loan of Messi to Juve. I knew there were some bureaucratic problems and thought he couldn’t start the season with Barcelona.
Then it occurred to me to take him to Turin. But Frank told me that in three or four months it would all be settled, that Leo would be playing for Barcelona.”
This time around, Juventus are in a financial crunch, looking to sign a single player from Sassuolo, whose asking price they are struggling to match.