Gines Melendez, former youth coach of the Spanish national team, revealed that Gerard Piqué and Cesc Fàbregas tried to convince a teenage Lionel Messi to represent Spain instead of Argentina.

Melendez explained that Alex García, Barcelona's youth coach, encouraged him to recruit Messi while the future superstar was making his way through La Masia.

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Melendez recalled, saying: 'He always told me: Listen, we have to convince the Argentine to play for Spain.'

Melendez said that former Spain coach Vicente del Bosque believed Messi could have made the already dominant Spanish national team even more successful.

Melendez revealed that Del Bosque told him: 'If you could have made him play with us, we would have won two or three additional World Cup titles.'