Lionel Messi Hinders Barcelona Youngsters' Future, Retired Winger Claims

Retired Ghana star winger Bernard Dong-Bortey claims Lionel Messi is hindering some of the Barcelona youngsters from becoming superstars.

Former Ghana star Dong-Bortey recently took a dig at six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi over the way he has been leading Barcelona. Dong-Bortey has picked Real Madrid teenage sensation Vinicius Junior over Barca’s Ansu Fati as the most exciting young player in the world. The retired winger backed his statement by saying Messi is stealing the spotlight from talented Barcelona youngsters such as Fati.

“I think Vinicius is the most exciting young player for me because to play for Real Madrid is not an easy thing. If you get the chance, you have to play your heart out. Vinicius is even making the first XI. He’ll be a great player one day,” Dong-Bortey told Goal.

“Fati is also good but there are the likes of Messi at Barcelona and you can only become the star man when Messi is not there. But at Real Madrid everybody has the chance to shine,” Dong-Bortey added.

Dong-Bortey surely has his own reasons for making such claim. But what remains a fact is that Vinicius and Fati are indeed two of the most promising players in the world today.

Following an impressive 18 league appearances last season and 19 current La Liga outings for Real Madrid, Vinicius seems to be on the right path. He has already and scored two goals thus far, and in El Clasico this year, the Brazilian netted the opening goal against Barcelona, even surpassing a record held by Messi in the process. “Leo” held the previous record this century after scoring a hat-trick in 2007 for Barca. But the 19-year-old has now become the youngest player to net in the fixture this season.

Fati, on the other hand, has made his own breakthrough season at Barcelona but came up short and lost the Goal 2020 NxGn Award to Real Madrid’s to Rodrygo. This has added to Bortey’s belief that the 17-year-old could really suffer from playing in the shadows of Messi.

However, Fati and Messi have been playing well alongside each other on the pitch. In fact, in Barcelona’s epic win against Levante this season, Fati also made history and scored a brace during Barca's 2-1 win at Camp Nou. The feat saw him become the youngest ever player to score a double in La Liga. And to everybody’s surprise, Barca captain Messi himself assisted both Fati’s impressive goals.