By Tim Vickery South American football reporter

Read my answers to this week's questions

When Lionel Messi was making his way up through the ranks at Barcelona, Spain tried to persuade him to play for their national team.

Messi is regarded as one of world football's brightest prospects

His response was short and sharp. "I told them I'm an Argentine, from Rosario, and a leper."

He did not mean that his skin was flaking off. The third part of his declaration of identity referred to his support for one of his home city's big two clubs, Newells Old Boys.

Many years ago a nearby hospital which specialised in leprosy asked the city's two clubs to stage a fund raising match.

Newells accepted, local rivals Rosario Central refused. Ever since, Central have been 'the scoundrels,' and Newells 'the lepers'.

Last week, Newells became something of a hospital case themselves. A local judge declared the club bankrupt.

So far they have shrugged it off, winning 3-2 on Friday away to high-flying Arsenal.

But without their financial misfortunes they may never have lost Lionel Messi.

He needed an expensive hormonal treatment to correct a genetic defect and stimulate his growth. Newells could not afford it, and so he ended up at Barcelona.

There are many other cases of pre-adolescent Argentines finding their way to Europe.

Theoretically they are not allowed to move until they are 18. But the European clubs can easily find ways round the restriction.

The European clubs want the kids, and the kids dream of playing for a big European club

Youngsters are allowed to move for non-football reasons. So the clubs fix up jobs for the boy's father, and the entire family joins the statistics of economic migrants.

Last week the Argentine FA resolved to hit back. From now on, none of their affiliated clubs can play abroad without authorisation.

Visits to Europe by Argentina Under-15 sides will almost certainly become less frequent. Such moves may reduce the cross-Atlantic flow. But they are very unlikely to stop it.

The European clubs want the kids, and the kids dream of playing for a big European club.

As long as things stay like that, a way will always be found to dribble round the regulations.

Jose Pekerman realised this over a decade ago when he was surprisingly put in charge of Argentina's youth sides.

He had enjoyed a moderate playing career, and was a little-known figure up against heavyweights when he applied for the position.

Pekerman was given the job because his project was backed up by astute analysis.

In the new globalised world of football, he reasoned, boys would inevitably move to Europe at an ever earlier age.

So the only way to secure them for Argentine football was through the national team at youth level - Pekerman's task was to get gifted youngsters into the system early and help forge their identity as footballers in an Argentine context.

In other words, create a bond between the player and Argentine football strong enough to survive the fact that he would be playing almost his entire club career in Europe.

Under Pekerman's stewardship Argentina won the World Youth Cups of 1995, '97 and 2001 - and have since added the 2005 title.

Perhaps even more importantly, the youth sides have produced a conveyor belt of talent for the senior side.

Almost the entire 2006 World Cup squad had come up through the ranks - and though they had been scattered all over Europe for years, when they came together they enchanted the world with some of the best aspects of Argentine football.

Why is it that the Argentine and South American seasons are split into Clausura and Apertura? And why does the more prestigious Copa Libertadores last only half a season? Surely the Copa Sudamericana should be similarly viewed as the Uefa Cup here in Europe rather than on equal pegging?
James Bushnell

The standard South American season (though Brazil has become a bit different recently) is split into two: January (high summer) is holidays, and then you go February to June, with July as a break for international competitions, and then August to December.

Most countries use this division to stage two separate championships, often called Apertura and Clausura (opening and closing) in order to keep the interest level high.

The Libertadores - Champions League equivalent - is squeezed into the first half of the year, the advantage being that then they can fit another international competition into the second half of the year.

A number of competitions have been tried out: Supercup, Mercosur/Merconorte, and now the South American Cup. It is catching on OK, but it is very much the second competition - a Uefa Cup equivalent.

In terms of prestige and quality it's well behind the Libertadores.

Why in your opinion have Brazil stopped producing the great midfield ball-players, like G�rson and Falc�o? For me this one of the main reasons the Sele��o no longer play futebol-arte.
Matt Boyton

Sadly I have to agree. Brazil still produces cartloads of fantastic players, but no longer in that position. I think it has to do with the physical development of the game and Brazil's response to it.

The space of the old-style midfield generals has been squeezed. There is much more emphasis on athleticism, hence the fact that the pistons pumping full backs have been turned into full time attackers, meaning that the balance of the tasks of the two central midfielders has been tilted firmly towards defence.

Many of the coaches in contemporary Brazilian football are technocrats - graduates in physical education - and they have a technocrats' weakness for statistics.

They are happiest with things they can measure. There has been a conscious attempt to make the Brazilian player taller and stronger, to compete physically with the Europeans.

A lot of this physical preparation work is excellent, but I think something has been lost.

Football is such a fluid game that many of the pass statistics are meaningless. Technocrats can only manage what they can measure, so they distrust passing moves.

I've even heard it stated in a conference of Brazilian coaches that if the move consists of 7 passes the chances of a goal are reduced. So instead of the intricate passing movements of old (take the 1982 side as the last great example) the emphasis now is much more on quick breaks down the flanks.

There is no doubt that it has been effective - recently Brazil were world champions at Under-17, Under-20 and senior levels, but there's no doubt in my mind that the play is not as attractive as when central midfield was bossed by Didi and Zito, Gerson and Clodoaldo, Falcao and Toninho Cerezo.

Got a question about South American football for Tim Vickery? Email him at vickerycolumn@hotmail.com