Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Former Spain youth team coordinator Genés Melendez has revealed details of Spain’s attempts to convince Lionel Messi to represent Matador before joining the Argentina national team.
Melendez said in an interview AS newspaperHe tried to convince Messi to wear the Spain shirt when he was a youth player at Barcelona, with the help of a number of colleagues at the club, led by Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas.
“We tried to get him to play with us because I have a friend in Barcelona called Alex Garcia, who was Messi’s youth coach. He always told me that you have to convince the Argentine to play with Spain.”
He explained that Messi belonged to the generation of 1987, the same generation that included Pique and Fabregas, noting that he had 7 or 8 players from Barcelona in Spain’s youth team and they were all trying to convince Messi to join Spain.
When asked if Pique and Fabregas really put pressure on Messi, he answered: “Yes, they were of the same generation. When Messi was 13 years old, I wanted him to play with me. Alex Garcia was very excited about the idea of convincing him.”
He added: “During the Spanish Youth Championship in Albacete, I spoke to him again when he was fourteen years old and I said: “Please, you have to play with us!”
