Charalampos Kostoulas: Why Brighton are paying £34m and beating Real Madrid & Man Utd to Olympiacos' teenage 'Babistuta'

Greece is not a country that iswell known for producing superstar footballers. Even their European Championship-winning squad of 2004 lacked big names, with former Leicester City midfielder Theodoros Zagorakis and ex-Werder Bremen striker Angelos Charisteas among those who enjoyed fine careers in their own right, but never managed to earn global recognition.

But Charalampos Kostoulas is one of several players of this golden generation capable of breaking the mould. His meteoric rise to prominence at Olympiacos has captured the imagination of the public in his homeland, and he has been described as a "marvel of nature" by the club's sporting director, Darko Kovacevic.

His exploits so far in his career have attracted the attention of Real Madrid, Arsenal and Manchester United, but it's wonderkid factory Brighton who are set to snap him up for a cool £34 million (€40.2m/$45.8m).

If he stays on his current trajectory, Kostoulas will get the chance to strut his stuff in the Premier League with the Seagulls sooner rather than later. So without further ado, GOAL is here to bring you everything you need to know about Brighton's latest recruit...