Jorge Messi, Lionel Messi's father and agent, has shaped football history behind the scenes (2024)

Very few people have the inside scoop right now on Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi. On Saturday, June 3, the striker will play his final match for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) against Clermont, and if anyone has an idea of what the world champion's future will look like, it's probably his agent and father, Jorge Messi, who has been negotiating La Pulga's contracts behind the scenes since the beginning.

In the football industry, it's not uncommon to see parents looking after their children's interests. Some other examples from PSG alone: Neymar's father is omnipresent in his career, and Wilfried Mbappé and Fayza Lamari have been meticulously managing the career of their son, Kylian, from an early age.

But Messi senior, 65, was a forerunner. He became an agent in the early 2000s by force of circ*mstance. Everyone knows the fairytale: young Leo, who played for Newell's Old Boys in Rosario, Argentina, some 300 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires, suffered from a growth deficiency and had to undergo hormone treatment. His father's health insurance, which came with his job, covered the expenses... until an economic crisis hit the country.

Jorge went to Spain, and more precisely to Catalonia, with the 13-year-old prodigy and managed to convince FC Barcelona to pay for the treatment. Father and son settled there, while the rest of the family stayed in Rosario. "Jorge went from being a supervisor in a steel mill to the agent of the future global star. He's a self-taught man who has accompanied his son from the start of his career," explained Florent Torchut, a journalist for France Football and the author of the biography Le Roi Leo ("King Leo").

The clan patriarch

In the early days, Jorge was accompanied by advisors as he discovered the business. "They have been written out of the story. Jorge pushed them aside to take the lead," said a source familiar with the Messi clan. Leo doesn't need anyone else, as he has blind faith in his father. "Of the three brothers [Rodrigo and Matias, the player's older brothers], Lionel is the one who most resembles Jorge. He's reserved and discreet," said Alfredo Martinez, a journalist for the Spanish radio station Onda Cero, who has been close to the Messis since their arrival in Catalonia.

Quietly – he prefers not to attract attention – Jorge built influence and a network as his son established himself as the best player in the world in the late 2000s. The former steelworker delegates certain marketing and communication facets but remains his son's privileged advisor on sporting matters. "One term comes up again and again: the sporting project. Jorge always brings up the sporting project, the ambitions of the club, in negotiations," explained Torchut.

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