A young Lionel Messi scored 12 goals in one training session while on trial at River Plate - but the Argentinian giants refused to finance a deal.

Messi spent several days with the Buenos Aires club while he was playing for Newell's Old Boys.

But despite impressing the coaching staff, the club's chiefs were unwilling to stump up the money to sign him permanently.

River's former youth coach Eduardo Abrahamian told Marca : "He really made an impression on me in that first session. He was small, that was not a problem for us as we were looking at his technical skills which he had in abundance.

"He was really impressive, in the practice he scored around 12 goals, it was incredible. He stayed three or four days in Buenos Aires.

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"I called the club's director general and told him to come because we had something really surprising; his technique, pace, the way he left behind other players.

"I wanted him here as you don't see a player like Leo every day. I gave my opinion that you can't let a player like Messi go.

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"I said that he was a player with great quality and I was told that they already had a lot of players with those qualities and that Leo wanted to go home.

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"The club did not understand what the investment was going to be. When Boca invested in Diego Maradona he had already played in the Primera with Argentinos Juniors but Boca took a decision and it paid off.

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"River should have done the same with Messi."

Messi went on to sign for Barcelona instead, becoming one of the greatest players of all time.