Without question one of the breakthrough stars of the Torneo 2015 has been Rosario Central’s, 21-year-old forward, Franco Cervi. The tricky attacker has helped Central to a somewhat surprising title challenge and amid reports of interest from several European sides it is Portuguese giants, Sporting Clube de Portugal that are reportedly closing on a move. For a fee of $3.8 million, Sporting will own 80% of the ownership and bring Cervi to Lisbon in January.

Several reports in Portugal have claimed that the deal between the clubs is complete and Cervi must now simply agree terms on a five-year deal which will see him remain with Central until the end of this current season. According to these rumours, Sporting manager, Jorge Jesus was interested in the youngster prior to his controversial switch from city rivals, Benfica and may now have sealed a transfer to take him to the Estádio José Alvalade.

Who is Franco Cervi?

Rosario’s reputation as a hotbed for Argentine footballing talent is well justified after producing none other than Lionel Messi, Ángel Di María, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Mauro Icardi to name a few. Much like Barcelona’s four-time world player of the year, Franco Cervi is a pint-sized attacker but unlike Argentina’s captain has forced his way up through his home club’s youth system into the first team before hopefully making the step-up to Europe.

Cervi was born just north of Rosario in the town of San Lorenzo but joined the academy of Rosario Central at the age of six and has since then represented the club at every level. However, it was with the reserves under the leadership of Hugo Galloni in 2013 that ‘Chucky’ really made a name for himself within the club.

Five goals in fifteen reserve team appearances led to Miguel Angel Russo giving the 20-year-old his first team debut at the end of the 2014 Torneo Transicion. Cervi only enjoyed a handful of outings but impressed and even in defeat to champions Racing, the diminutive attacker stood out.

When club legend Eduardo Coudet took over as manager at the start of 2015 he too had obviously taken note and immediately Cervi was named as one of his key starting eleven. This faith was immediately repaid in the first match of the season when the youngster lobbed Racing goalkeeper, Sabastian Saja from 30 yards to give Central a shock away victory over the defending champions.

Cervi has maintained this level of performance and in tandem with centre-forward Marco Ruben provided a constant goal threat as Central have maintained a title challenge. Five goals and four assists in his 22 appearances is a decent return but only go someway in highlighting his importance to the side.

What type of player is he?

Thanks to the likes of Messi and Maradona, Cervi is perhaps the archetypal Argentine footballer: tiny in stature, but with lightening acceleration and the ability to skip past defenders given their low centre of gravity.

This comparison serves only to highlight Cervi’s size in contrast with his natural abilities, as few players can even aspire to the level of the two Argentine greats mentioned let alone be justifiably compared. That aside, Cervi is a talented attacker able to operate across a 4-3-3, comfortable out wide or behind a central striker in a classic number 10 role. In addition to his pace and dribbling ability, Cervi has a good eye for a pass and represents a goal threat of his own having already notched four goals and four assists in 2015.

Either alongside or just behind the main striker, Cervi has struck up a good partnership with the more experienced Marco Ruben and the well-travelled frontman has reaped the rewards as he leads the way in the scoring charts.

Additionally, in spite of his slight build, the 21-year-old is not easily bullied out of matches and also carries out his defensive duties willing to press high up the pitch and win the ball back.