The Grand Hotel Princess Sofia is located just north of the Camp Nou in Barcelona, about an eight-minute walk away.

It's a hotel that looks unremarkable from the outside, it doesn't deserve the slightest attention, it doesn't have any modern architecture, it doesn't have the slightest classical flavor, and it doesn't have a so-called Catalan character, but it's almost everything that has happened in Barcelona over the past few decades.

Cruyff, Maradona, Rivaldo and, more recently, Ronaldinho, the name of the hotel can be found behind almost every major event in Barcelona, and although its operation itself has nothing to do with FC Barcelona, it has played a pivotal role in the history of Barcelona over the past few decades.

In fact, even now, it still plays the same role.

Jorge Messi, anyone who sees this middle-aged man, the first feeling is that he looks really similar to Messi, and the second feeling is that he must be Messi's relative, just like when everyone sees the celebrity chef Rodrigo Messi at the Princess Sofia Grand Hotel, they all look too similar and too similar.

Agents, spokesmen, butlers, drivers, and personal advisers Jorge have all forgotten how many titles he has on his body, and he has even forgotten how many things he has helped Messi, but everyone knows very well that if you want to see Messi, you must go through Jorge, his father.

Don't look at Messi is now the world's premier superstar, with the highest income among professional stars, but Jorge doesn't look like a celebrity or a rich man, wearing a light brown suit, at first glance, giving people the illusion of washed gray, and inside is a pure black T-shirt, and the lower body is wearing a very plain pair of jeans.

This kind of dress is not to mention ordinary, walking on the street, I am afraid that a large number of people will point at him and scold him.

But this is Jorge Messi, the father of the living superstar Messi

And everyone knows that although Messi is far away in London, his father Jorge returns to Barcelona every once in a while, because his second son Rodrigo's family lives here, and he often has to run back to see his grandson Augustine.

Jorge's proudest thing in his life is that he has two excellent sons, Rodrigo is a famous chef near Barcelona, and the youngest son Messi is the world's premier superstar, but the most depressing thing in his life is his eldest son, Matthias, who is not used to living in Europe, fortunately, the eldest son has been living in Argentina with his wife who is not used to living in Europe, Messi bought a very nice villa for them in his hometown.

The coffee at the Gran Sophia Hotel is not very good and not famous, but I don't know what it is, it is very popular in Barcelona clubs, and perhaps it has something to do with Cruyff's love of coffee here.

Someone once joked that Cruyff was able to become Barcelona's football godfather, instead of being expelled like Maradona, Rivaldo and other superstars, a very important reason is that he chose to integrate into Catalonia, became the son-in-law of the Catalans, spoke Catalan, and used his own initiative to integrate in exchange for the respect of the nation, which is a choice that other superstars who joined Barcelona are not willing to make.

So, although it's rare to hear anything about the Princess Sofia Grand Hotel, all the people at Club Barcelona who have something important to talk about will say "see you at the café".

Then, everyone naturally knew about the café of the Princess Sophia Grand Hotel.

Important signings and sales are almost always negotiated here.

The reason why Jorge is now sitting in the café of the Princess Sofia Grand Hotel, thinking about the Camp Nou not far away, as if he is still echoing the shock of the first time he saw this spectacular stadium, is because someone has just called him and told him that he has not seen you for a long time, and that he will talk in the café

The middle-aged man sitting in front of him was called Budge, an agent who was extremely familiar and knowledgeable about Argentine football.

But at Camp Nou, Budge has a very high position, he does not have any position at the club, but he can meet with the chairman and technical director at any time, and he is also a crucial player in the campaign think tank of current Barcelona president Joan Laporta, as he represents Cruyff.

Jorge worked in Barcelona, he heard a lot of people talk about Budge, heard that he was Cruyff's most trusted person, the relationship between the two dates back to the 80s, after Cruyff retired, he once worked with Gustavo, the most powerful agent in Argentina at the time, ready to build an agent empire, bringing the star-rich Argentine players to the world.

Although this plan later failed, and Gustavo's agent supremacy was soon replaced by Muscati, Cruyff befriended Budge, and the two dated for decades, after Cruyff left the Barcelona managerial position, Bucky worked as a sports reporter for Barcelona TV 3, and was later recommended by Cruyff to join Laporta's think tank.

Over the years, Budge has been Cruyff's most trusted assistant.

Perhaps because Bacchi has a special affection for Argentine football, so for the only Argentine and Argentine player in the club at that time, Bacchi had a good impression of Jorge and Messi, and the relationship was quite good, and even many people did not know that Jorge finally decided to let Messi leave Barcelona, because they heard Cruyff's appreciation of Ye Qiu from Bacchi's mouth, and finally made them decide to go to London.

Jorge was a little surprised that Bacchi knew that he was back in Barcelona and made an appointment for the first time, but he was not stupid, and he vaguely guessed something, and he knew that Barcelona was currently doing everything possible to pursue his son.

"When I came back this time, I should have come to deliver tickets and take my family to Rome by the way, right?" Bucky asked for a cappuccino, but left it in front of him and asked with a smile.

"Well, Celia and Matthias have arrived." Jorge smiled and nodded.

"Is Matthias okay? Will you still cause trouble everywhere now? Bucky, who was familiar with their family, asked with a smile.

This stinky boy has been an uneasy master since he was a child, and when he was in Argentina, he caused trouble, robbed, beaten, and intimidated, and it looked like a triad, but for this, Budge was not surprised, because quite a few professional stars were born poor, and the quality of their families was not good, and it was not uncommon for members of the underworld to be found.

So, a lot of times, agents don't just have to help players deal with business and life matters, but also help players take care of their families, such as going to the police station to bail out the damn brother who was arrested for intimidation.

"It's still the same, but it's much more convergent, and now we're in charge of some of our fixed properties in Argentina."

Budge nodded when he heard it, saying that the good thing is management, but it is not good, that is, just find a job to live in, save yourself from causing trouble everywhere, and with Messi's current property, say too much, say less and not too much, Argentina's economy has been so sluggish in recent years, what fixed industry can it have? It should be some shops and rents and so on.

"It's a good fit for Matthias, it's best to find him a companion as soon as possible, like Rodrigo," Bachija said with a smile.

Jorge also laughs at the mention of the Barcelona chef, which is also his pride.

"I've heard that he intends to come out and open his own restaurant, is it true?" Bucky asked again.

Jorge nodded, "Well, he has also accumulated a lot of experience over the years, he lacked funds before, but now"

Budge vaguely heard a clue that the funds were fine, "Is it still in Barcelona?" Seriously, I like his Catalan-Argentinian flavor that makes my mouth water. ”

"Probably not, he plans to go to London to develop, probably this year when the contract expires."

"Oh" Bucky kind of understood, the word London has so many meanings behind it.

"Have you ever thought about staying in Barcelona, I believe that all Barcelonans will miss Rodrigo's cooking, he stayed and opened his own high-end restaurant, there should be a lot of potential for development, and I believe that if it is financial, there should be no problem, I am also interested in investing."

After a pause, Bucky laughed and said, "At least you don't have to worry about not being able to eat the chef's craftsmanship in the future."

"Haluha" Jorge was also happy to hear Budge praise his son like this, which made him feel more disappointed than praising himself to his face, "In the future, if he makes a name for himself in London, I will let him come to Barcelona to open a restaurant"

"Where in London?" Bucky asked again.

The "financial district" Jorge did not hide it, and there is nothing to hide it, "Mr. Ye Qiu's shop. ”

"Oh" Bucky was not surprised, because he guessed correctly, Ye Qiu used Tottenham Hotspur to set up a real estate company in the past few years, invested in a lot of projects, and also copied some shops with great potential, so he had already guessed that this would be the case, and judging from Jorge's expression of gratitude when he mentioned Ye Qiu, the geographical location must be quite good, and the rent must have given a friendly price.

Thinking of this, Bucky also knew that he could not continue to detour like this, "Jorge, for the sake of our old friendship for many years, I hope you can answer me honestly a question." ”

"Yes, you say" Jorge picked up the coffee in front of him and took a sip, a little to hide his embarrassment, because he knew very well that Bucky would definitely ask him.

"Has Messi really decided to move to Manchester City?" Bucky asked, staring at Jorge with a serious face.

Jorge took advantage of the coffee to block it with the quilt for a full three seconds, then put it down, stuck out his tongue and licked the coffee foam on the side of his mouth, "Yes, the conditions they offered were too tempting"

"150 million euros? 300,000 weekly salary? Bucky was a little taken aback.

"Yes, 150 million euros, cash, 300,000 weekly salary, after tax"

Budge was almost a little frightened by the series of numbers in front of him, because he swore that there is absolutely no second company in football today that can give such an attractive price, let alone Tottenham Hotspur, even Barcelona, no matter who Manchester City wants, it will definitely sell

"So, it's settled?" Bucky was still a little unwilling, but his tone was clearly frustrated.

"It's basically decided," Jorge said lightly.

Bucky knew very well in his heart that this price, as well as this treatment, was impossible for any other team in the world to give.

Thinking of this, he immediately remembered another trick, shook his head and said: "I still remember, when you said that you were going to take Messi to London, you told me that you would make a name for yourself outside and you must return to Barcelona again, but now it seems that you and Messi seem to have forgotten what you said back then." ”

"I am very, very grateful to you, and Mr. Cruyff for helping me and Messi resolve the contract dispute, we have not forgotten this kindness, really, never forgotten" Even if Jorge knows, there is Ye Qiu secretly contributing.

"Then Barcelona needs you to come back now," Budge said in a somewhat strong tone.

Jorge pouted, "Budge, you know, Ye Qiu and Tottenham Hotspur are quite good to us

"But was Barcelona bad for you back then?" Bucky was clearly pressing.

"It's good, it's heaven compared to when we were in Argentina." Jorge recalled everything when his family first arrived in Barcelona, raised his head, looked at Budge, shook his head, and replied very affirmatively: "But neither Messi nor I owe Barcelona a slight, do we?" ”

"When we came to Barcelona from Argentina, Barcelona didn't help my son treat for free, they only paid a small part of the treatment costs, and the rest was filled by my efforts to work for the club, and then the income was not enough, I went out and worked three jobs at the same time, which you know, one is a coolie for a moving company, one is picking seafood in the vegetable market, and one is delivering beef to an Argentine restaurant, I met you in the Argentine restaurant, remember?"

Barcelona has been publicizing it over the years, and the club has helped Messi to treat his illness for free, hoping to use this as an emotional offensive, but in fact, Barcelona was also very worried back then, and did not accept Messi at first, on the contrary, they always suspected that Messi would become a dwarf.

Jorge's agreement with Barcelona at that time was very, very low risk for Barcelona, because they only had to bear a small part of the cost of treatment, and at the same time introduce Jorge to a job so that they could survive in Barcelona and not starve to death, how could Barcelona agree without such humble conditions?

In Jorge's view, if you want to say thanks, the most important thing to thank is the doctor Ignacio who is not a Barcelona fan, who kept encouraging Jorge and held on until the end, and then he wanted to thank several youth coaches in Barcelona, who privately knew that Messi needed nutrition and often took him home to eat and replenish nutrition.

He still remembers the names of those people, Antonio, Luke, Santiago

During that time, Rodrigo was also very smart and sensible, he went to the streets to distribute advertisements, deliver goods for people, and work as a handyman to supplement the family.

So in the whole process, it can't be said that Barcelona is not helpful to Messi's family, but it is definitely not that big, and it can even be said that it is just a gesture, because in their calculations at that time, as long as they pay a pitiful price, they can keep this Argentine who is quite good at his skills, it doesn't matter whether he works or not.

Bacchi knows that what Jorge said is true, and in fact, many people say that Barcelona helped Messi with his illness, but it is nothing more than propaganda, or news reports that do not pursue details, deliberately obscuring the concept.

A football club can't be a good club, at that time, Messi's treatment cost was five or six hundred euros a month, which seemed very insignificant at first glance, but if it was like this for a few years, the cost was very expensive, and I don't know if this Argentine kid can really become a talent, so no club will do this kind of thing.

Of course, if you look at it from an afterthought, Barcelona should have fully funded Messi's family at that time, not only to help him with free treatment, but also to take care of his nutrition, as well as the family's life and work.

"Please, Budge, my friend" Jorge looked at Budge with a sincere face, "I never deny it, I'm scared, I want Messi to transfer to Manchester City because there he can earn more and more money, because in my opinion, football is not enough to feed him and his family for the rest of his life, so what I want to do is to make as much money as possible while he is still playing, I believe that no one in the world can say that I am wrong"

Bucky listened to Jorge's dissection, he really couldn't say anything, he knew Jorge too well.

Don't look at Jorge as if he is very bold and has the shadow of an Argentine, but in fact he is very conservative, which can be seen from his almost harsh protection of Messi, he does not let any woman, anyone who may influence Messi get close to his son.

You could say he's cautious, you can say he's careful, but Budge knows that Jorge is sincere and doesn't fake.

On several occasions when talking about leaving Argentina and coming to Barcelona, Jorge said with tears in his eyes that if his family could not establish themselves in Spain, they would be on a dead end, because they had spent almost everything in order to come from Argentina to Spain, and even sold their property, and their relatives in Spain were themselves poor and could not help them for a long time.

That's why Jorge often says that "everything you see now is forced out by life"

Perhaps, if there was no serious illness at the beginning, without the hardships of the year, there would really be no Messi now

And everyone, including Messi, knows very well that playing football has never been a job he likes or not, but a career that can help him support his family, and he has no choice

Life is often a matter of no choice