Lionel Messi had not yet made his professional debut
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He’s consistently rated one of the best – if not the best - footballer of all time, and the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner has smashed nearly every record in football over his career so far. But in 1999, Messi was a young 12-year-old in training for what would go on to be one of the world's most illustrious professional football careers.
That year, Messi was with Newell’s Old Boys, having been a longtime fan of the Rosario-based club. In his six-year stint with them, Messi was one of their most prolific scorers, with over 500 goals to his name.
In 2000, a year later, a certain club named FC Barcelona signed him to their youth club, Barca B, with a promise to pay US $500 for the Argentine’s hormone injections; Messi suffered from Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) and would have likely been unable to pursue a professional footballing career without the medication.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
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