The race to be at the front of the queue for the next big thing is one that all of European football’s biggest teams are involved with.
We only need look at the likes of Real Madrid’s purchase of Vinicius Junior when he was 16 years of age at what then seemed an extortionate €50m, to understand that, actually, it was a superb piece of business for the club.
Claiming Rodrygo Goes at roughly the same age hasn’t yet paid off in the same manner, but neither is the youngster turning out to be a poor purchase.
The next players off of the Brazilian production line appear to be Kaiky, who is an 18-year-old centre-back, and Angelo, a 17-year-old winger.
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Both play for Santos and it’s expected that both will tread the same path as many of their contemporaries before them.
Just seen Santos confirmed yday they’ve written off a €3m debt to Barcelona (for not alerting them correctly when selling Gabigol to Inter) by giving Barça a buy option on two youngsters already in the first team at the Brazilian club. Kaiky (18, CB) & Angelo (17, winger)
— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) January 18, 2022
One club in particular hold an advantage over any other in Europe and it happens to be Los Blancos’ biggest rivals, Barcelona.
According to Spanish football journalist, Sam Marsden, writing on his official Twitter account, the reason the Catalans are in pole position is because of an error on Santos’ part relating to Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa.
It appears that the Brazilian club have written off a €3m debt to Barcelona which was in place as they had not alerted the blaugranes correctly when they were selling Gabigol to Inter.
As a result, they have given Barca an option to buy the young stars, and, though the Catalans are flush with cash at present, any transfer fee is unlikely to prove prohibitive.