Ever since the early 90s every good, young, Argentine attacking midfielder has been touted as the 'New Maradonna'. Now with the emergence of Lionel Messi natural progression suggests that hitting the heights of Lionel is now the new aim of every young Argentinian footballer. One youngster that has the potential to do such things is Juan Manuel Iturbe.Starting his career at Paraguayan side Cerro Porteño he made his debut at just 16. However, his time at the 28 time Paraguayan champions didn't last long as he was snapped up by Buenos Aires club Qulimes who managed to capture him for free as he had not signed a professional contract at Cerro. His talent has also led him to be included in the 'sparring squad' that was taken to the 2010 World Cup by Diego Maradonna to keep the main squad sharp. Following this he has recently been taken to the South American Under 20 Youth Championships in Peru where he has featured 4 times and scored twice, earning himself many admirers in the process. These admirers have little chance of signing Iturbe in the near future as he was signed by FC Porto of Portugal in 2010 for around 1.5 million euros and have tied him to a contract that keeps him at the club until 2016.
The comparisons to Messi are not unfounded as he has a similar diminutive stature standing at only 5ft 6 1⁄2 in comparison to Messi's 5ft 7. It is, however, his style of play from where one must draw the majority of the comparisons. As with Messi, Iturbe has good close control and the ability to dribble at speed whilst exhibiting this control. He also plays in a similar position, either out on the wing or just behind the striker which makes the likeness to Messi even more apparent. It is fair to say that Juan Manuel Iturbe has an amazing future ahead of him but whether he will become the 'New Messi' we will have to wait and see...
No comments:
Post a Comment