Fabian Soldini, Lionel Messi's former agent, has revealed how close the Barcelona superstar came to playing for Spain.
The forward emerged as a first team player at the Camp Nou in his mid-teens, attracting the interest of Spain and his native Argentina.
"The Argentina youth team didn't call up Leo because they thought there was no competition in Spain," Soldini said.
"In Argentina you play against River Plate, Newell's Old Boys... and Barcelona played against Lleida and always won 5-0.
"They thought there was no competition.
"At that time, Spain did give him a call-up, but Leo wanted to play for Argentina.
"We made a promise with Leo that he would not drink any more Coca-Cola until the national team came calling.
"We waited two or two and a half years.
"I did it to him because he was very fond of it and because the nutrition issue was complicated.
"We killed two birds with one stone."
weaabmopt
495
I can bet if Leo had gone to play for Spain he would have won soo many international trophies
boadelsty
388
In my country you can't kill a bird with one stone instead the bird will kill you and your stone🇳🇬
omaryaradua
38
Messi stopped drinking coke for over years but today Messi and Pepsi are...