Messi: the first interview

During our visit to the Camp Nou, we also met the club's new starlet for the first time, in what was maybe the 18-year-old's first in-depth interview with an English-language publication

- Words Andy Mitten, Additional reporting Martin Mazur

Lionel Messi is this year's new Maradona, the most exciting teenager in world football, the star shining brightest in a Barcelona team that's now rivalling Real Madrid's Galacticos status. Who says so? Maradona, for one. Messi is not simply the flavour of the month, an over-hyped tabloid creation who'll fade away as quickly as he's risen to prominence, one more Diego double who fails to match expectations. "He's different to the rest," insists the original (and the best). "He's different to Pablo Aimar, Juan Roman Riquelme or Andres D'Alessandro. I see myself a lot in him."

Six months ago, Messi was just another hopeful playing for Barcelona's B team in front of crowds of 2,000 fans at best. Although he featured in seven first-team games last season and became, at only 17, the youngest player ever to score for Barcelona, Messi was on the field for a total of just 77 minutes.

Then, in June, he travelled with the Argentina squad to the under-20 World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. As Argentina lifted the trophy, Messi was unquestionably the star of the show, top-scoring with six goals from his seven games at the tournament.

Barça had always known they had a potential star in their cantera, but the speed with which club president Joan Laporta hotfooted it to the Netherlands to improve Messi's contract suggests that even they didn't realise quite how good he was. With Real Madrid, Inter, Rangers and Milan all showing interest, Messi's reserve-team contract of around £100,000 a year was upgraded to one worth £3 million a year. The deal runs until 2014 and contains an implausible £100m buyout clause - that's the same amount as Ronaldinho's.