Lionel Messi has revealed a strange new tattoo with ink covering almost half of his left leg while training with Argentina.

The Barcelona legend is a body art enthusiast and has recently decided to shade out the lower region of his left leg with an all-black tattoo which contains his shirt number and a football.

Messi shows off his new tattoo while training with the national team (Getty ) (Getty)

Messi’s left leg previously showed a picture of his son Thiago, wings and flowers but the old artwork has seemingly fallen out of favour with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Messi's old tattoo on his leg included a picture of his son Rocco (Twitter/@antoroccuzzo)

The forward is back in South America preparing for Argentina’s upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifier against Brazil in Belo Horizonte on Thursday.