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‘Not many like him’: Riquelme blown away by reported Wolves target

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Boca Juniors midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring against River Plate during their Argentine first division f...
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Photo by EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP via Getty Images

Reported Wolverhampton Wanderers target Facundo Pellistri is a rare talent with the ball at his feet, Argentinian football legend Juan Roman Riquelme has told El Observador.

One of the most gifted footballers of his generation certainly knows all about a teenager who has shot to fame at Penarol over the last 12 months or so.

Riquelme is the director of South American giant Boca Juniors these days and he, like many others across the world, have tired to lure the fleet-footed Pellistri away from a club now coached by another generation-defining forward.

It was ex-Manchester United and Atletico Madrid ace Diego Forlan who handed the speedy youngster his debut at the start of the season.

And such is the rate of Pellistri’s development that the latest in a growing number of technically gifted Uruguayans is already being linked with an £8 million move to England, via AS.

Photo by DANTE FERNANDEZ/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by DANTE FERNANDEZ/AFP via Getty Images

“Will he come to Boca? We will see,” said Riquelme, arguably the most gifted Argentinian footballer this side of the century, apart from a certain Lionel Messi of course.

“He is young, talented, he hasn’t played that much but you can see he is a real rascal with the ball at his feet. And that is important. There is not many like him around, who have the courage to be so cheeky on the pitch.

“That is highly valuable.”

Riquelme, perhaps the godfather of all ‘rascal’ footballers everywhere, is not an easy man to please – so it’s fair to assume there is something rather special about Pellistri.

And you can guarantee that Wolves’s interest would have been piqued last week when Forlan admitted to FOX Sports that keeping hold of Pellistri for the long haul might be easier said than done.

Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images
Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images