Barcelona star, Lionel Messi can be cloned as claimed Genetics expert Arcadi Navarro, head of the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA).

Navarro made the claim during an interview on Spanish radio station Cadena SER, where he aid the player can have a double with the use of existing technology and techniques, The Sun UK reports

A clone of the Barcelona superstar would arrive as a baby with the same potential as one of the greatest players ever. Navarro said:

“Yes, Messi could be cloned with current techniques.

“We would achieve a being very similar to Messi, the result would look like Messi’s twin, as if two twins had been born and we had frozen one of them for 20 or 30 years.

”However, it is no guarantee that Mini-Messi would end up being as good as the real version – because of environmental and educational impacts as well as experience.

The real Messi joined Barcelona as a tiny 13-year-old from Argentina’s Newell’s Old Boys.

He’d had growth hormone deficiency and needed to have treatment for four years from the ages of 10 to 14.

He then spent years at Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy honing his skills, before playing alongside the likes of Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, Xavi and Andres Iniesta to become one of the best players in the world.

Navarro says that all those factors make Messi the player he is today – something that might not be replicated in a Messi clone.

The scientist added: “This person could have the same potential as Messi, his qualities have a genetic component and another more educational, environmental.

“Messi isn’t who he is only because of his genes, but because of everything he has lived through, his education, his stay in La Masia, the treatment he received.

“Genetics give us potential, then to fulfil it, it’s our own work.”