Wednesday 11 November 2015 15:00, UK
Vicente del Bosque has admitted the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) attempted to convince Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi to play for Spain.
Messi was born in the Argentine city of Rosario, but relocated to Spain at the age of 13 to join Barcelona's youth academy in 2001.
He made his competitive debut for Barcelona against Espanyol three years later, with Del Bosque now confirming an approach was made by the RFEF to Messi during that period with regards to switching his national allegiances.
"There was an attempt to do that at the time but he decided to stick with the country of his birth, he remained steadfast," Del Bosque told The Independent.
Having rejected the chance to play for Spain, Messi made his senior debut for Argentina at the age of 18, featuring as a second-half substitute in the international friendly against Hungary.
Unlike Messi, Chelsea forward Diego Costa did decide to play for Spain instead of his country of birth, Brazil.
Ahead of Friday's international friendly with England in Alicante, Del Bosque says repatriation of players is now unavoidable in the modern game.
"This is a phenomenon that we cannot turn our back on, we can't pretend it doesn't exist," Del Bosque added.
"It happens too often for that, it's too significant.
"You see the players coming from outside of Spain and we don't know where the next Messi or the next [Cristiano] Ronaldo is going to come from. It could be one of those who arrives here from another country looking to make a better life."
