The mind-blowing value of Messi’s left foot is wild: The most expensive insurance policy for an athlete in the history of sports

Up there with Diego Armando Maradona, Roberto Carlos, and Ian Harte, Lionel Messi may have the most famous left foot in football history.

The 38-year-old, now at Inter Miami, still continues to show his extraordinary talent that we got so used to at FC Barcelona over the years, and age has certainly not caught up with his innate ability to put a football exactly where he wants it to go.

Scoring 82 goals and getting 44 assists over 94 games for the MLS club has seen him write his name on every page of all the record books at Inter Miami; front to back cover they all read the same: Messi. Messi. Messi.

He remains the key piece of Mascherano’s side, creating as well as scoring, all while providing levels of experience and an understanding of the sport that is simply unmatched by anyone around him.

Given his importance to his team and his sport as a whole, it is quite natural that he has his ducks in a row when it comes to insurance. But this is a big duck. A dinosaur of a duck.

It is reported that Messi’s left foot is insured for $900 million.

To put that number into perspective, the same list, compiled by a Miami-based outlet, says that during his playing prime, David Beckham’s entire body was insured for $195 million, down-the-back-of-the-sofa money compared to the Argentine.

For a comparison a Gen-Z audience can understand, instead of using an underwear model who was probably a decent footballer in black-and-white TV days, both of Cristiano Ronaldo’s legs are insured for $144 million.

For those of you here who are not football-minded: an applause for getting this far down the piece - you have found the quiz question and answer you were looking for. Secondly, here’s a non-footballing example to give even more context to just how insane Messi’s value is: Fernando Alonso’s thumbs are insured for a reported $50 million. I’d be curious to know what he’s not covered for in terms of injuries there. Playing PlayStation? Thumb wars? Momentarily plugging a hole in a burst water pipe?

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