Scottish Premiership rivals Celtic and Rangers are reportedly lining up a shock deal to take Rodrigo Riquelme away from La Liga giants Atletico Madrid.
When a young player links up with of the most powerful agents around, even before he has made a name for himself in the professional game, it’s usually a good reflection of his potential.
Just look at the way Jorge Mendes hoovers up Portugal’s best and brightest. The motormouth Mino Raiola, meanwhile, recently added the dazzling Dutch trio Calvin Stengs, Myron Boadu and Donyell Malen to his star-studded list of clients.
Rodrigo Riquelme, meanwhile, is part of a select group of footballers represented by Kia Joorabchian, despite boasting just 12 minutes of La Liga football on his Atletico Madrid CV.
According to Transfermarkt, the fleet-footed 20-year-old is tied down to Joorabcian’s Sports Invest UK group, alongside the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Willian, Andreas Pereira and PSG flyer Layvin Kurzawa.
The Iran-born agent has been pulling the strings at the top of world football for some time now, orchestrating the fabled Carlos Tevez to West Ham transfer while making quite the splash at Chelsea, Inter Milan and Arsenal too.
And it could be Joorabchian himself who brings one of the most talented young attackers in world footballers to Scotland.
Riquelme is out of contract in the summer and, according to Marca, Celtic and Rangers are interested. And Joorabchian certainly won’t do his popularity in Madrid much good if a new deal cannot be agreed, with a hefty £26 million release clause likely to go un-triggered as long as he will be available for free in a few weeks’ time.
Riquelme is very highly-rated by Diego Simeone and has been compared to Brazilian legend, and former Celtic playmaker, Juninho in some quarters. It looks like Joorabchian is about to orchestrate another high-profile, eye-catching transfer deal.
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