Olympique Marseille chief Andoni Zubizarreta has spoken of working with Lionel Messi as a teenager.

Zubizarreta was at Barcelona as Messi was coming through.

He told AFP: "We always ask: 'When will we see the new Messi?' But the better question is: when there is a player of great talent, at some point we will have to make the decision, yes or no (should he play)?

"When I'm told it's easier with Messi, I always say that at 15 years old, Messi was little, a different player, but small in front of big, tough players. We had to give him a chance, we have to give confidence to the young players.

"In reality, it is the player who develops his talent, we are facilitators."