Turkish sensation Kenan Yildiz couldn’t believe his luck when he received a special gift from Lionel Messi during his visit to the Adidas HQ.
Despite being on crutches, the Turkish attacking midfielder from Juventus paid a visit to the Adidas World of Sports located in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany.
He was there to get his foot measured as he recovered from his foot injury, apart from visiting the popular facilities like to tour campus facilities like the Innovation Lab, APEX Lab, and Adidas Archive to name a few.
The 21-year-old Yildiz was given a special gift: the customized boots worn by Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi during his final international match against Benin, held on October 7 at the Estadio Mas Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This was Messi’s final match as an international football player [though he’ll continue to play professional football for MLS club Inter Miami].
The shoes were presented to him in a golden box, alongside an autographed card from the legend himself.
An excerpt of Yildiz’s visit was posted on Juventus’ official Instagram account, where Yildiz was seen to have turned emotional upon receiving the gift from Messi.
An expression of disbelief ran all over him, and he revealed that this is one of the most incredible gifts he had ever received. He further said in the snippet released on Instagram,
“If I were an emotional guy, I would cry right now.”
Yildiz further revealed that Messi is ironically the only player he has never seen play live in a match. He added further in the conversation as he tried his left foot,
“No, I’ve never seen him in a match. He’s the only player I’ve never seen.”
Kenan Yildiz: “He’s the only player I’ve never seen” Kenan Yildiz showed up at adidas HQ on crutches to try out the special Number 10 boots picked by Messi.🔟👟 (via Juventus/YT) https://t.co/Mkr4lJJVFn
— Yıldız10☆ (@Kenan_Xtra10) November 13, 2026
The official Instagram page of Adidas Football immediately reacted to this unique event as they commented on the post,
“Plans for tonight: this on repeat 🔁”
Interestingly, this is not the first time the Argentinian forward has done Kenan Yildiz a huge favor.
In October 2024, the Turkish attacking midfielder Yildiz was one of the 10 young players personally chosen by Messi for his ambitious Messi+10 project, which was relaunched by Adidas in 2025.
Spanish sensation Lamine Yamal was also chosen as part of the same project, which featured the limited-edition F50 boots that were signed by Messi himself.
But the question remains: why was Yildiz on crutches?
In August 2026, during the opening leg of the Serie A League (where Juventus faced Frosinone in the opening leg of the match), 21-year-old Yildiz suffered a collision, after which he was pulled off the field.
Medical examinations later revealed that Yildiz had a fracture to the fifth metatarsal of his left foot, which later required a surgical operation.
He successfully underwent a surgery for the same on August 31 for the fractured leg. Thanks to the surgery, he was sidelined for several months.
Yildiz is expected to return to action for Juventus in December. However, he is already eager to return to action soon, now that his idol has gifted him his own boots.
