Meet The £35 Million, 16-Year-Old Wonderkid Who Everyone Wants To Buy

Ladies and gentlemen, introduce yourself to 16-year-old 'wonderkid' Pietro Pellegri, the young striker who is making a name for himself in Serie A with a flurry of impressive performances in Serie A with Genoa.

On 22 December 2016, the youngster made his debut with the senior team against Torino, coming on as an 88th-minute substitute. At the age of 15 years at 280 days he equalled the all-time Serie A record set by Roma's Amedeo Amadei, set in 1937 for a Serie A debutant.

Since that memorable day last year, Pellegri has quickly established himself as a dangerous force in the Genoa front line, scoring a brace in Genoa's five-goal thriller with Lazio in September.

He was once described by former manager Gian Piero Gasperini as "the next Lionel Messi", and the 15-year-old is quickly establishing himself as a top talent in European football.

The striker has also been likened to Christian Vieri, who was arguably one of the best goalscorers in Serie A history. Standing at 6ft 2, Pellegri has it all - pace, power and height.

The youngster has a huge future ahead of him and a number of top European clubs have already recognised his immense talents.

According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Premier League clubs Chelsea and Manchester United are chasing the 16-year-old, as well as Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan.

Pellegri hit the headlines back in September when Genoa assistant manager Marco Pellegri was seen crying in the dugout as his team lost 3-2 to Lazio.

But the reason why he was welling up at the loss was because his 16 year old son, Pietro Pellegri, bagged the two goals for Genoa.

After the match, Genoa manager Ivan Jurcic said, "We're working a lot with Pellegri. He played like a real centre-forward tonight. It's a great story, his father is my very close friend and now his son is doing so well in this team."

Genoa drew their opening game of the season with Sassuolo but have since lost to Juventus, Udinese and now Lazio.

It's been a difficult start but with their young goalscorer, they could certainly turn things around.

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_