""Espanyol made a move, and obviously they came looking for me because they knew about my relationship with Leo, who had just played in the Under-20 World Cup. "There was an issue where Barça already had all their non-EU spots filled with the first team, so in a way, Messi couldn't go back to playing for Barça's youth team or the B team after that World Cup or what he had done.""
""The club's directors asked me, since you have a relationship with him, do you think we can do something so that Messi can come and play for Espanyol? "But anyway, they tried to see if there was, I don't know, some way that Espanyol could make it happen. Everyone knows the ending Of course, the story's ending is now part of footballing history. Messi never left Barcelona""
Pablo Zabaleta revealed that RCD Espanyol made a concrete approach to sign a young Lionel Messi after the Under-20 World Cup. Espanyol targeted Zabaleta because of his friendship with Messi and investigated whether Messi could move across the city. Barcelona had all non-EU spots filled, which complicated Messi returning to youth or B-team duties and positioned him for the first team. Espanyol's directors asked Zabaleta to probe possibilities and tried to find a way to bring Messi to Espanyol. Administrative and registration constraints shaped the decision, and Messi ultimately remained at Barcelona.
Read at Barca Universal
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