Millions of football fans across the world would swap places with Lionel Messi in an instant if it was possible.

The Barcelona superstar appears to have the perfect life: he’s idolised all over the planet thanks to his remarkable talent and has spent his entire career at Barcelona, where he will forever be remembered as the club’s biggest legend.

He earns an absolute fortune - £500,000-a-week net, to be precise - and lives in the beautiful Castelldefels area in Barcelona along with his childhood sweetheart and three children.

As a boy back in Rosario, Messi could never have imagined how his life would turn out.

It seems like the dream existence for any football lover; however, former Italy striker Dani Osvaldo, who was born in Argentina and finished his career with Boca Juniors, has made some thought-provoking comments about Messi’s life.

The 32-year-old, who made headlines in 2016 when he quit football in order to become a rock star, believes Messi must feel like he’s living in a ‘golden prison’.

“Would I like to be like Messi? No. I’d like to play like him, but he has no life. It’s as if he lives in a golden prison,” he told Marca, per Goal.

“He couldn’t go somewhere and quietly drink something. Maybe he doesn’t care about it, but I do.

“I imagine him buying the biggest TV in the world, but then he’s never in his living room to use it.

“Failing that, he probably drives a Ferrari, knowing he lives 15 minutes away from the Barcelona’s training ground…”

As a fellow player, Osvaldo knows precisely that a lack of privacy and even freedom is part and parcel of being a top-level footballer.

But he also knows that Messi’s fame is on a totally different level to his and almost everybody else’s.

Like he says, it’s impossible for Messi to pop to his local cafe and have a quiet drink. He would be swarmed by fans demanding autographs and selfies within seconds.

This means that most of Messi’s time will be spent at his home - or ‘golden prison’, as Osvaldo calls it.

It’s fair to assume that Messi wouldn’t swap his life for a ‘normal life’ - but there are consequences to being one of the world’s most famous faces.

And that’s why Osvaldo would much rather prefer his life over Messi’s.