River Plate let slip Lionel Messi despite him scoring 12 goals in first training session Barcelona Club didn't want to invest

Lionel Messi had trials with River Plate and then youth coach Eduardo Abrahamian revealed how he was taken aback by his skills but that the club hierarchy didn't want to spend the necessary money on him.

Abrahamian took over the coaching role after retiring as a player for River and it was his job to evaluate Messi when he came for a week, and in one of the training sessions scored 12 goals.

"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 said.

"He was really impressive, in the practice he scored around 12 goals, it was incredible. He was three or four days in Buenos Aires, I called the club's director general and told him to come becausewe had something really surprising, his technique, pace, the way he left behind other players.

"They had to speak with his father to get him to come to River. I wanted him in the club but I needed to find accommodation for his father so that he could bring his family over. 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. 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."

Abrahamian was critical with the River board.

"The club did not understand what the investment was going to be," he continued.

"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. River should have done the same with Messi."