A young player has earned comparisons to Lionel Messi after his five-star skills went viral on TikTok.
The child, who is believed to be based in the Netherlands, is seen in the clip receiving the ball ten yards from the edge of the penalty area, and keeping hold of it as he’s set upon by defenders.
Making light work of his opponents, the player – who sports a black and white kit – nutmegs the first defender to encounter him, before nimbly running onto the ball.
He then wrongfoots another defender in pursuit, before bullying past yet more players en route to the box.
The player’s silky footwork immediately caught the eye of ESPN, who reposted the clip to their account, captioning the video: ‘He’s ballin [sic] like Messi.’
A young player has gone viral on TikTok after his skills saw him compared to Lionel Messi
The Barcelona legend and World Cup winner was scouted by Newell’s Old Boys at a similar age
The video, which quickly garnered over 139,000 likes, sparked off a wave of comparisons between commenters, who not only saw glimpses of the World Cup winner and Barcelona legend in the talented youngster, but other players too.
One commenter noted: ‘moves like foden [Phil Foden]’, with another adding that the child was ‘more like Neymar, Mbappe [Kylian Mbappe] or Ronaldo [Cristiano Ronaldo].’
But comparisons to the Argentina captain abounded, with one user wondering if ‘that’s Messi’s son’.
Another added: ‘that’s actually Messi’.
A third called the child: ‘the future of football’.
Messi joined his first club, Newell’s Old Boys, at a similar age to the child in the clip, playing for the side for six years and making over 500 youth appearances for the club.
Commenters on the social media platform praised the youngster with one calling him ‘the future of football’
At the age of 12 he attended a trial at Barcelona, and joined their youth set-up two years later to begin a 19-year affiliation with the Blaugrana.
The Barca legend has three children with his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo – Thiago, 10, Mateo, 7, and Ciro, 4 – and it remains to be seen whether they will follow in the illustrious footsteps of their father.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
