His team-mate Matías Rodríguez has attracted the interest of Chelsea and Manchester City, after the wing-back broke into the Argentina squad on the back of an impressive 12 months. But City’s eyes are more focused on the traditional talent factory of River Plate, where two of the continent’s best young players are blossoming.
Lucas Ocampos is still just 17, but he has been linked with some of European football’s leading lights ever since his first-team debut in August last year. He is unusually tall for a winger, and his 6ft 2in frame and burning pace have led to comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo rather than compatriot Lionel Messi, with the River Plate forward citing the Portuguese as his idol.
It seems though that Ocampos’ team-mate Ezequiel Cirigliano is the one more likely to make the move to Eastlands. ‘Ciri’ is a classic Argentine No5 in the mould of Javier Mascherano and Esteban Cambiasso, and when Man City sent Attilio Lombardo to watch River play Instituto in a top-of-the-table clash in April, the Italian is said to have been supremely impressed by the poise and maturity of the midfielder, as well as his range of accurate passes from deep.
River Plate sources have revealed that Man City were attempting to negotiate a similar sort of ‘first option’ deal to the one that their cross-city rivals had for Henríquez, but Millionarios president Daniel Passarella is reluctant to tie down his club to any exclusivity deal, preferring to initiate a bidding war if they are forced to sell one of South America’s top young talents.
