How tall is Messi? Is it true he's on growth hormones?

The diagnosis

Messi's height is rooted in a medical condition rather than genetics alone. He was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency at age 11 and required years of hormone therapy to support his growth, a treatment his family initially struggled to afford before FC Barcelona agreed to help cover the costs after signing him to its youth academy, La Masia.

Doctors discovered his pituitary gland was not producing enough growth hormone, a protein essential for normal growth during childhood. The pituitary gland is a small structure at the base of the brain that controls growth, among other things. Without enough of that hormone, a child simply doesn't develop at a normal rate.

What the treatment actually was

The use of human growth hormone in a normal-bodied person acts as an anabolic steroid, but for Lionel Messi it merely enabled him to overcome his deficiency and reach his natural height. In Messi's own words, as quoted in the biography Messi by Guillem Balague: "When I was 11 years old they discovered that I had a growth hormone deficiency and I had to start a treatment to help me to grow. Every night I had to stick a needle into my legs, night after night after night, every day of the week, and this over a period of three years."

The treatment was very expensive, estimated at between $900 and $1,000 a month, which was too much for Messi's family to afford. His boyhood club, Newell's Old Boys, provided some help, but the family had to find long-term financial assistance to keep the injections going.

How Barcelona changed everything

All that changed when Barcelona scouts spotted Messi during a trial. Barcelona saw his potential and not only let him join La Masia but also paid for the rest of his medical treatment after he arrived in Spain.

The therapy enabled him to build up normal bone density and muscle development, providing him with the physical basis to play at the highest level. Without the treatment, he would have been 4 feet 7 inches tall.

The lesson here isn't really about height. It's about a kid who needed something just to reach his own baseline, and a club that saw past the obstacle to what he could become. Most people who feel they're starting behind are starting from their own version of that same gap.