Messi was reportedly 13 when he travelled to Spain with his grandmother, Celia. The treatment required regular hormone injections and was difficult for his family to maintain, with his father, Jorge Messi, supporting a household of six while working for a steel company.
The report says Barcelona offered to cover roughly US$900 a month, a commitment that could transform the teenager’s prospects. Other interested clubs, including Newell’s Old Boys, are said not to have presented a viable way to finance the treatment.
That decision was about more than football. It gave Messi the chance to address a medical condition that had left him smaller than many children his age.
Schwarzstein said the diagnosis required several tests and the elimination of other possible causes. “When he was 10 years old, he was a normal child, just with a problem of growth,” the doctor said.
He later added: “I reached the correct diagnosis and, after that, we started the appropriate treatment to correct the problem, allowing him to grow correctly.”
Before the medical intervention, Celia had already pushed Messi towards football. Recalling his first opportunity at local club Grandoli, former teammate Ezequiel Assales said: “The grandmother insisted. They put him on the field, and everyone said: ‘What a player!’”
Messi has reportedly described Barcelona as “the only club in the world” willing to pay for his treatment. That support helped open the door to a career that would redefine the club, Argentina and the sport itself.
The same report says Messi is expected to face Benin on 6 October in what could be his final match for Argentina. Whatever happens next, the story of his rise will always begin with a family’s persistence, a doctor’s diagnosis and a club willing to take a life-changing chance.