Meet Luka Romero. He's 11 years old and is from Durango, Mexico. Some people think he might be the next Messi.
Diarios en Mallorca publican al pequeño Luka, nacido en Durango. @rafaramosESPN @ESPN_JorgeRamos pic.twitter.com/piJ86fyAbh
— MoraPicos (@MoraPicos) November 11, 2015
Because there has only ever been one Messi, the odds of unearthing another one are nothing short of astronomical. That said, if another one did exist, it would be quite a find for Mexico. Maybe Messi really is a soccer-playing alien and Luka Romero is of the same species? I don't know, I'm not a biologist.
Before the videos of Romero (he's the short one one in blue in the video below, with floppy Messi-like hair), here's an important public service announcement about tempering expectations: "Freddy Adu." Thank you.
Important: these videos are from three years ago, so Luka was in the 7-8 range. Safe to say he's probably grown since then, physically and in terms of skills. But, in terms of "is he the next Messi?" (the answer, as usual, is "probably not") his game looks fairly similar to Messi's, in that he's short, has floppy hair, is a good dribbler and appears to be left-footed. He's certainly good, especially for how young he is.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus