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Back in the late 1990s, River Plate received a visit from a diminutive young player who took their youth coach's breath away by scoring 12 goals in a training session. The club's directors, however, were unwilling to pay for accommodation for his father or front the costs of the youngster's growth hormone treatment. Besides, they already had "a lot of players with the same qualities". The name of the player that came to visit? Lionel Messi.
You could say that River have been trying to make up for that historical blunder ever since, as they have turned into the leading exporters of top Argentine talent. Six members of the 2022 World Cup-winning squad began their career at Los Millionarios, with Enzo Fernandez and Julian Alvarez having left the club for Manchester City and Benfica, respectively, just a few months before triumphing in Qatar. They have gone on to generate a combined total of more than £200 million ($268m) in transfer fees between them.
River's production line of talents coveted by Europe's top clubs has picked up the pace since then. Claudio Echeverri followed Alvarez's path by moving to City earlier this year, while Real Madrid have just won the race to sign Franco Mastantuono, paying £34m ($45m) for the 17-year-old midfielder who last year became River's youngest-ever scorer.
The next player tipped to move from the Estadio Monumental to the bright lights of European football's elite is Ian Subiabre, the fleet-footed 18-year-old who has got the continent's major entities queuing up to sign him. Chelsea are reported to have made the first move after holding meetings with his agent, the legendary Argentina forward Claudio Cannigia, though Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal have also expressed strong interest in the forward, who has already lit up the Under-17 World Cup and this year's Under-20 South American Championship with Argentina.
GOAL has the lowdown on the latest gem to come out of River's talent factory and where he could be heading next...