If you happened to watch the Barcelona – Arsenal Champions League fixture last night, you were treated to the spectacle of Lionel Messi violating Manuel Almunia’s goal a total of 4 times.  This kind of performance is not a fluke, Messi has made them a regular occurrence in his career and, as Arsenal understands very well, not just against lower level opposition.  There is no question that he is the world’s best player and there is plenty of time for him to grow even better.

So how much is the Argentinian wunderkind worth?  We could guess around based on past transfer market silliness or how much cash there is floating around at Manchester City waiting to be spent, but let’s at least try a hard measure (or at least a more entertaining one).  So let’s see how much Messi is worth, literally, pound-for-pound.

Messi is reportedly on a yearly wage of €10.4m euros = £9.1m pounds = $13.9m dollars

Messi weighs 67 kg / 147.4lbs

So his wages to weight ratio is – €155.22 euros/g = £135.82 pounds/g = $5893.82 dollars/oz

*Based on current exchange rates of  £1 =  €1.13907, £1 =  $1.525 (4/7/10)

Why am I calculating based on grams and ounces instead of kilograms and pounds?  Because we are going to compare Messi to gold!

Current gold prices:

€27.68/g = £24.25/g = $1150.04/troy oz. (actually $1265.04/oz)

Looking at these figures it would take a block of gold weighing about 686 pounds (312 kg) to equal the value of Lionel Messi  and he is worth, pound-for-pound, about 5.6 times more than GOLD.  Based on the fact that a lump of gold can’t dribble through 4 defenders and plant a left footed strike in the top corner I wouldn’t argue with that for a second.