Former fitness coach: Messi once advanced wages of 2 million to Football Association employees and divided the national team bonuses equally

Football     5:02pm, 21 October 2025

Recently, former Argentina youth team physical coach Gerardo Salorio was interviewed by a podcast program. In the program, he talked about Messi’s advance salary for national team employees.

Q: Before ending the discussion about Messi, what do you think about him that surprised you the most, and what is it that still impresses you so far? Maybe it's the stability you just mentioned, the way he plays, or the way he conducts himself.

Salorio: "To my surprise, I can tell you two or three things he did. He divided the national team's bonuses equally among every employee and player of the Football Association, which is equivalent to giving everyone an apartment.

"Another thing, you may not remember, the Argentine Football Association was once put into administration, and the employees did not get paid for three months. The director went to Messi and said to him: ‘Leo, we haven’t been paid for three months. ''How much? ’ ‘I don’t know, probably 2 million. ’ ‘Leave it to me, give me one hour. '

"After a while, the money was transferred to the employees' accounts, that is to say, he advanced the salary. So everyone at the training base loves him very much. He is a person who can adapt to everything, a very simple and simple person. You tell him, 'Come, take a picture with the children.' He will come and take pictures with the children.

"It is difficult to find someone like him again, very difficult, Messi explains leadership with his actions. I might also say something inappropriate, certain players must be let go in order for him to shine even more. I'll just leave this sentence and let them guess. In other words, as these players leave, his halo becomes even more dazzling. It must be said here that Scaloni is a master because he arranged everything to make this person shine even more. ”

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