What a BS....Messi is lucky that he has that talent. he was better than anyone in barca at age 18. This is the only reason why he turned up into a superstar. And he would turn up as a superstar anywhere in the world if the commanding boss is mentally healthy.
Don't get me wrong, Messi is by far the best player in the world in my opinion but the fact that he is in Barcelona helped a lot. Look at their team last year, they have players like Bojan and Dos Santos that were getting first team football all the time. They aren't Messi's but they were lucky enough to have a management that promotes youth so they can make a name for themselves at an early age.
Let me ask you this, when was the last time you heard of an Italian 18 year old world class player? I mean a player that is recognized by the entire world as one of the greatest talents around. Probably never, not because Italy is a nation short of talents but because a player in serie A barely gets his breakthrough unless he has surpassed the age of 23. When was the last time we saw an 18 year old Italian in the national team?
Why weren't players like Giovinco , Montolivo, G.Rossi picked for Euro 2008? Why does Italy always seem to have the oldest squad in the world cups and the Euros?
It's not because of a specific coach or coaching staff, it's because of traditional mentality in Italy where players at the age of 18 or 19 must play for the U 21's and the U 23's before they can actually make it to the first team. Giovinco in my opinion is one of the best talents in the world. I'm not saying this because I'm a Juve fan, I honestly think he has incredible abilities and at the age of 21 he should at least have the chance to play for Italy's first team, let alone Juve's first team.
I still think had Messi been an Italian playing in serie A, he would have made his breakthrough after a much much longer time than an Argentine in Barca.