Mediterranean Team U23 Panoramica

Jorge Messi, father of the multiple World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, is dead. According to reports, he died on Friday evening (local time) in a hospital in his home city of Rosario after a long illness.

Widespread criticism of the Argentina player

Before he was an eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and a world champion, Lionel Messi was already a living legend in the streets of Rosario. Long before he moved to Barcelona's La Masia, the "tiny magician" was making enough waves at Newell's Old Boys that the club’s senior professionals would halt their schedules just to catch a glimpse of his genius.

Newell's Old Boys vice-president Juan Manuel Medina has announced that the club are "working on" a 2027 homecoming transfer for Lionel Messi. The Inter Miami superstar took his first steps into football at youth level with the Argentine club, who are eager to bring him back as the face of a new "project for the city of Rosario".