Luca Romero is now officially a Milan player and has signed a four-year contract with the team. Today, the idler will take you to briefly know this genius teenager.
Romero, born in 2004, was born in Mexico, but his parents were both from Argentina, which was the biggest reason why he chose Argentine nationality. At the age of 3, Romero immigrated to Spain with his parents and began soccer training at the age of 7. At less than 10 years old, Romero participated in a trial in Barcelona but did not pass: this is not because his football level is not good, but because he is too young and does not live in Catalonia, which does not meet Barca's signing criteria. However, in 2015 he signed an eight-year contract with Mallorca and began to make a name for himself throughout Spain.
During his time in Mallorca's academy, he set an astonishing record of 230 goals in 108 games, which also earned him a first-team call-up in June 2020. Despite the pandemic, he gradually established himself in the first team and was included in the squad against Villarreal, which shows that his talent is indeed recognized by the team. On 24 June 2020, he was offered a chance to play in the league against Real Madrid, making him the youngest player in La Liga history at the age of 15 years and 291 days. At the time, he was the youngest player to play in the Big Five since 1960, which was enough to make him famous.
It can be inserted here that many media have previously said that he is the youngest player to play in the five major leagues, which is inaccurate. Here only the league, not the irregular first team game. Because for young players, domestic cups, which are often not valued by the team, are more likely to be the stage for young talents to debut. But if you refine it further, Romero's record has also been broken. In May 2021, Bologna midfielder Visdang Ami came off the bench at the age of 15 years and 274 days, setting a new record. But Romero's record is impressive enough, at least in La Liga, where no one else can beat it.
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Returning to Romero, he was officially promoted to the first team the following season, but he didn't have many opportunities to play. On November 29, 2020, he scored the first goal of his career in his team's 4-0 home win over UD Logranis. However, after his first full professional season, Romero chose to leave Spain and join Lazio for 1 million euros, starting a new phase of his career.
After arriving at Lazio, Romero once again broke the team's all-time record: he was given the opportunity to play in the season opener of the 2020-21 season, and he was only 16 years and 9 months old, making him the youngest player in the history of the Blue Eagles. However, due to his young age, he can only jump repeatedly between the first team and the B team, and his main playing time is also in the domestic cup. However, he still made another big breakthrough this season: in March 2022, he was called up to the senior national team for the first time, although he did not make his international debut on it.
In his second season in the Blue Eagles, he scored his first Serie A goal in a 1-0 home win over Monza and made himself the first goal-scorer born in 2004 in league history. He played a total of 12 games for the team during the season, including Serie A, Europa League, UEFA Europa League and Coppa Italia. As a player of his age, his resume is quite impressive. At the end of the season, Romero chose not to renew his contract with the team. This time, his new stop is Milan.
A short player 1.65 meters tall, Romero is a pure left-footed player who is extremely good at one-on-one and can play the role of a libero up front. He has excellent vision, is skilled, can constantly move around tight spaces, and thanks to his low center of gravity, it is difficult for opponents to break the ball at his feet. Although he is not tall, he has a hard toe and has a long-range shot. In the just-concluded U-20 World Cup, he scored an impressive long-range shot against New Zealand. Similar height, style of play and even early hairstyles led the Spanish press to give him the nickname of a mini Messi.
His speed and acceleration ability are also his weapons, which makes him suitable for teams playing high-pressure counter-attack tactics for a long time. With or without the ball, Romero is a difficult player to catch up. His passing is equally good: despite his small game size, he was 89% accurate in passing in 2022-23 and is a player who likes to pass the ball. His footwork and vision guarantee a high success rate in his passes, which Milan can take advantage of in the new season.
His main shortcomings are also obvious: first of all, inexperience. Of course, this is only relative. After all, compared to his peers, his experience is not less, but if it is really compared to those tried and tested big brothers, he is still a relatively tender existence. However, this can be improved over time, which is not a hard injury. Secondly, his height and skeleton also determine his high-altitude ball scramble ability and confrontation ability, and it is difficult to have much room for improvement; Finally, there's his ability to reverse the foot: Romero is a pure left-footer, even if he doesn't trust his right foot at all. This makes his movements quite good at judging. To go further, he must work hard to strengthen his comprehensive ability on both feet.
All in all, Romero is a young, distinctive youngster, and for Milan, a player with very low investment risk. He is a free agent signing and his salary has not been officially confirmed, but the overall should fluctuate between 400,000 and 500,000 euros. Let's hope this young man can do something in Milan.