Lionel Messi tipped to move to Newell’s Old Boys and emulate Diego Maradona

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:40 CDT
• 3 min read

Lionel Messi could return to Newell’s Old Boys at some point in his career to emulate Diego Maradona, according to the current head coach of the Argentine side, German Burgos.

Messi has been with Barcelona his entire senior career but as a youngster he played for Newell’s Old Boys before making the move to Europe with his family in the year 2000.

READ MORE: Lionel Messi could be closer than ever to staying at Barcelona

At the moment, he is arguably the most unsettled he as been at the Camp Nou, however, after becoming disillusioned with life on and off the pitch.

Messi requested to leave Barcelona last summer after an embarrassing 8-2 Champions League elimination at the hands of Bayern which confirmed the club failing to win a major trophy for the first time in 12 years. The club refused to let the Argentine out of his contract, but a year later in the summer of 2021, he has been tipped to leave again.

Though Burgos does not think Messi will ultimately leave the Blaugrana this summer, he believes the player will return to Argentina with his former club at some point.

“I have the best concept of him. I believe in him, I believe that he can give even more. I think he will not leave Barcelona because it is his home as Newell’s is also, and I believe that at some point he will pass through here,” Burgos told La Capital about coming back to Newell’s.

Messi to emulate Maradona?

Burgos believes that a major selling point for Messi would be to have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of his footballing hero, Maradona, who played for Newell’s between 1993 and 1994.

“If Diego Maradona played here, Leo is also going to want to play in Newell’s First Division,” he added.

“I think at some point that will come to pass. Hopefully it will be soon.”

Following Maradona’s death in November of 2020, Messi paid tribute not long after by removing his Barcelona kit with a Newell’s kit underneath which featured the famous number 10 of his idol.

Though Messi has constantly been linked with a move away from Barcelona this summer, FootballTransfers previously detailed how he is actually edging closer to remaining at the Camp Nou for a variety of reasons which you can read about here.

Should he leave, the club thought to be leading the race for his signature is Paris Saint-Germain.