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06th Apr 2015

VIDEO: The 16-year-old ‘new Messi’ on Arsenal’s radar is nothing like Lionel Messi

Looks more like Gabriel Batistuta to us

Evan Fanning

Don’t remember Messi scoring this many headed goals

Reports on Monday suggest that Arsenal are very close to agreeing a deal with Velez Sarsfield for their 16-year-old striker Maximiliano Romero.

Like all good, young Argentine footballers who could potentially make a big career for themselves in Europe Romero has been dubbed ‘the new Lionel Messi’.

But before Arsenal fans get too excited about the prospect of Arsene Wenger landing a talent that could in some way rival that of the Barcelona magician it’s probably worth having a look at Romero in action.

While Romero is clearly a talent, he’s nothing like Lionel Messi. In fact the only thing they seem to have in common is that they both wear No 10.

If you were going to compare Romero to great Argentine player (and industry norms dictate that we must) we’d say he has a lot more in common with Gabriel Batistuta.

Interestingly, Spurs coach and former team-mate of Batigol, Mauricio Pochettino, this week compared Harry Kane to the former Fiorentina and Roma No 9.

So maybe are about to sign the new Harry Kane? That should keep the fans happy.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10

Topics:

Arsenal