There is something about a one club man that warms the heart of all fans. They represent a dying breed of players, gone are the days of Giggs and Pirlo. This is mainly thanks to the rise of super agents like Mino Riola, and the growing ambition of players wanting to win trophies.
In this day and age, individual ability is judged on the success a team has, which is a somewhat fair assessment, as the best teams usually have the funds to acquire the best players, but there is still something about a player who has gone through a teams academy and stays there for their career.
Such a player develops a bond with not just the club they play for, but also the community that the player and club hail from, becoming role models for the next generation of footballers. Take for example Marcus Rashford, who has raised over 20 million pounds to make sure children do not go hungry, but the most high profile one club man of this generation was Lionel Messi.
Very few people capture the imagination of fans and players like Lionel Messi, with the most goals in FC Barcelona and La Liga history, he is considered the goat by many, and even more would agree that he is possibly the most talented player to ever play the beautiful game. Having signed his first contract on a napkin at the age of 12, Messi has been the face of Barcelona for over the last decade, rivaled in popularity only by Cristiano Ronaldo.
But even possibly the greatest of all time does not have everything go right for him. The covid-19 pandemic decimated hundreds of clubs finances, and FC Barcelona was no exception. The La Liga salary cap limited Barcelona’s ability to sign new players, as well as give new contracts to their old players, which meant that even after Messi agreed to take a 50% pay cut, Barcelona were unable to re-sign their greatest ever player.
Messi ended up signing with PSG, joining ex-teammate Neymar and wonder-kid Mbappe to form one of the most threatening attacking trios of all time. But Messi is still synonymous with Barcelona, he has carved out a part of their rich history for himself, from scoring 91 goals in a calendar year, to winning a record 6 ballon d'or’s, a title not even rivaled by Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi may not be a one club man anymore, but his legacy will forever be defined by all that he achieved at the club he signed a contract with on a napkin at the age of 12.
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