Brian Sarmiento.

[Snatch_81]

There are roumers that Racing Santander have signed the new Messi, Brian Sarmiento. He comes from Estudiantes, and are 16/17 years old. I don´t think he played with their first team. Anybody have some more info about him?

[locoxriver]

Never heard of him, but I doubt he's the "new Messi". :rolleyes: Plus, if he were really that good, I'm sure he'd get a shot in the starting line-up. Just look at Piatti, a starter in Estudiantes. He's only 17 years old, but already has plenty of games with the current champions' jersey.

[Leon12]

I know that Brian Sarmiento is very highly rated (from what I have read), he has played for Argentina Under 17's but he is in dispute with Estudiantes. It all revolves round Brian being offered a contract with Estudiantes worth something around 150 Euros, per month. :eek: As you can imagine Brian was not to happy about this and he refused to sign it or play for Estudiantes. As a result Estudiantes took this up with the AFA and FIFA and this resutled in Brian being unable to play in the recent Under 17 tournament in Ecuador. Technically Brian has 'retired' from football, which I presume is ploy to enable him to sign for another club, which appears to be Racing Santander.

[Snatch_81]

Ok, thanks for the answars. I have also heard about Piatti, and he sounds very impressive. He has scored about 3 goals this season. How is his style of play, and how good can he be? Is he small and quick like Messi, Aguero or Saviola?

[Leon12]

Snatch,

Some info about Piatti:

Pablo Piatti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pablo Piatti (b. La Carlota, Córdoba province 31 March 1989) is an Argentine football (soccer) player with Estudiantes de La Plata.

The diminutive (163 cm, 55 kg) player made the headlines when coach Diego Simeone gave him his first opportunity against Newell's Old Boys on 18/Nov/2006. Piatti scored the winning goal (2-1 final score) deep into injury time, and became one of the heroes of Estudiantes' championship-winning team.

Piatti made the starting eleven in the 2007 Clausura tournament, alternating between the left-insider and center-forward positions, in tandem with José Luis Calderón, complementing fellow midfielders Juan Sebastián Verón and José Ernesto Sosa. As of the ninth day of that tournament, Piatti has scored three times for the team and won accolades from his coach and the press.