Rayane Messi

Rayane Messi Tanfouri (born 23 May 2007) is a French footballer who plays as a left winger for Dijon.

Early life
Messi was born in Sèvres, Hauts-de-Seine in the Paris suburbs area. His father, Zacharie Messi Tanfouri is a Cameroonian of Sudanese descent while his mother is Tunisian. He took his first footballing steps by joining local side FC Chaville in 2015. Alongside football, his father also enrolled him in futsal when he was younger to improve his accuracy in tight spaces and increase his cardio. As a result, Messi displayed technical ease and had above-average physical abilities, which quickly caught the eye of the big teams in the region. As a result, he left Chaville in 2017 and joined FC Versailles.

In 2020, Messi moved to the Clairefontaine academy, showing impressive technical qualities leading to numerous French clubs attempting to sign him. In 2022, at the age of 14, he chose to join the youth academy of Dijon, signing a three-year contract.

Club career
Impressing in the youth ranks, Messi was promoted to Dijon's reserves side and made his Championnat National 3 debut in August 2023 at the age of 16. On 5 April 2024, he made his first senior debut with Dijon, coming in as a substitute in the clubs 0–2 defeat against his former team Versailles. At 16 years old, 10 months and 13 days, he became the youngest player to have played for Dijon. A week later, he appeared again for Dijon as a substitute and scored the only goal for the match to bring his team a 1–0 victory against Orléans. The goal made him the youngest goalscorer in Dijon's history.

International career
Messi is a youth international for France, having played for the under-16s and under-17s. In March 2024, he scored a brace to help France U17 win 2–1 against England as part of the Euro U17 Elite Round, thus qualify his team to the final tournament. Two months after, he was selected in France U17's squad for the Euro U17.

Playing style
Messi's coach at Versailles Matthieu Merle praised him for “his strength, his explosiveness and his ability to make differences in one-on-one situations”.