The legacy Lionel Messi left at Barcelona is almost impossible to replicate. With a talent widely regarded as second to none, and with many considering him the greatest footballer of all time, Messi won almost everything there was to win at Barcelona and went on to conquer the world with Argentina. While his journey with the national team ended after he won everything in Argentine colours, the foundations of his remarkable career were laid at Barcelona, where his talent was nurtured at La Masia before he went on to become a club legend. In recent years, Lamine Yamal has been touted as the next Messi, and so far, he has shown promising signs at both club and international level.
But Barcelona have seen this comparison before, with Bojan Krkic once being touted as the next Messi. The weight of those expectations, however, proved difficult to handle, and his career did not reach the heights many had predicted.
Bojan had already shown extraordinary promise in Barcelona’s youth ranks, scoring a staggering 423 goals, reportedly the highest tally by a youth player in the club’s history. His remarkable performances earned him a first-team opportunity, with Frank Rijkaard handing him his senior debut during the 2007/08 season.
Bojan went on to make 48 appearances and score 12 goals in his first season, an impressive return for a teenager breaking into one of the biggest clubs in the world. At 17 years and 51 days, he also became Barcelona’s youngest-ever goalscorer in La Liga at the time, a record he held until Ansu Fati came along.
However, the fame and attention that came with being labelled the ‘next Messi’ soon became difficult for Bojan to handle. The pressure began to take a toll on him, affecting him both on and off the pitch. Looking back, Bojan revealed how those expectations and his sudden transformation into a public figure began affecting his mental well-being.
“All those emotions started to take over. I felt like I was no longer in control. My body reacted with dizziness. I had 24-hour dizziness that was accentuated depending on what was happening. When I was calmer, I had more constant dizziness. I had the sensation of not being in control of what I was experiencing,” Bojan told The Athletic.
“I was particularly affected by my new identity. I was Bojan, the public figure. That impacted me in my day-to-day life, in my intimacy and in myself. I am a person who likes physical, emotional and real contact. And I saw that all that was impacting me — 100 per cent.
“They were new experiences, and I probably didn’t want them. I wanted to play football, but I didn’t want fame. I have never liked excesses and that was an excess. This made my body understand that my life was going down a path I didn’t want. I just wanted to play football,” he added.
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Nothing worked for Bojan after leaving Barca
Despite a bright start to his career at Camp Nou, Bojan’s form dipped significantly as he struggled to cope with the demands of playing for Barcelona when the club was the dominant force in European football. After scoring just seven goals in the 2010/11 season and finding it difficult to get as much game time as he wanted under Pep Guardiola, he decided to leave Barcelona and joined AS Roma.
In two years with the Serie A club, Bojan scored seven goals in 37 appearances and was also loaned to AC Milan. It marked the beginning of a major downward trend in his career. After Italy, he would go on to play in the Eredivisie with Ajax on loan, the Premier League with Stoke City, the Bundesliga with Mainz on loan, La Liga during a second spell at Barcelona and a loan stint at Alaves, before moving to MLS side Montreal Impact and eventually Japan’s J-League with Vissel Kobe.
The closest Bojan came to matching his numbers at Barcelona was during his time at Stoke City, where he made 85 appearances and scored 16 goals. He scored 41 goals in 163 matches for Barcelona, while his overall club career saw him score 93 goals in 451 appearances.
Bojan did not play a traditional club farewell match as his final official game; rather, he held his retirement press conference at the Auditori 1899 at Camp Nou.
The former wonderkid returned to Barcelona after retirement, but this time in a different role, hoping to help guide the next generation of stars and prepare them for both the good times and the bad. The Spaniard, now 36, works at Barcelona as a football coordinator, with his primary focus on monitoring the club’s youth players at La Masia – the renowned academy he came through himself.