Ian Subiabre: River Plate's latest teen prodigy who Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal are battling to sign

Subiabre hails from a family of top athletes. His maternal grandfather and uncle played football in the local leagues of his home city of Comodoro Rivadavia in picturesque Patagonia, and his paternal grandfather, Jose Lorenzo, was an amateur boxer who won 18 out of his 19 fights while also playing for his local football team. Meanwhile, his father, Martin, was a stalwart of the Argentine lower leagues, and won promotion to the country's second tier with CAI as well as playing for Huracan de Comodoro Rivadavia.

Martin even had a trial with River Plate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Fortunately, he has been able to live out his dream of playing for El Mas Grande through his son, who began making a name for himself at the age of five while playing for local side El Globito. He was discovered by Claudio Fernandez, River's talent scout in the area, and was asked to join the club's youth system aged eight.

Subiabre's family could not afford to move to Buenos Aires so he remained in Comodoro, joining his father's old club CAI while keeping in touch with River and training with them every so often. He would travel to the capital every three months - taking 24 hour bus journeys to do so - in order to stay on their radar.

Subiabre also took a trip to Spain to try out for Villarreal and Levante, but a move never materialised. Instead he returned home to CAI, who were then invited to the capital to play a friendly at the Argentina national team's headquarters, where legendary River midfielder Pablo Aimar, then in charge of the country's U15 side, was enchanted by Subiabre's talent. Soon after, River finally snapped him up and brought him into their youth team, and in 2023, he signed a professional contract with them, containing a €25m (£21m/$28m) release clause.

After making his youth tournament debut at the U17 World Cup, where he was upstaged by his River team-mates Agustin Ruberto, Echeverri and Mastantuono, Subiabre left his mark in his next adventure with Argentina, the 2025 U20 South American Championship in Venezuela.

He scored three times in his eight matches, netting with thumping left-footed strikes in a 6-0 hammering of Brazil and in a 2-1 win over Chile. But his best - and most important - goal came against Colombia. With the game goalless and heading towards full-time, Subiabre dribbled past a defender inside a crowded area before rattling the ball inside the near post with his right foot.

It gave Argentina a 1-0 win which clinched their place in the U20 World Cup in Chile later this year as well as keeping them on track towards winning the championship, although they eventually finished second in the standings behind Brazil.

Subiabre's exploits in Venezuela led to him making further in-roads into the River senior team. Head coach Marcelo Gallardo has tended to favour his experienced players over the super-talented youngsters emerging from the academy, but he soon started giving Subiabre more opportunities, handing him eight league appearances and three games in the Copa Libertadores, all of which were from the bench.

Subiabre made the most of the few minutes he got, though, and struck his first senior goal in a 2-2 draw against Rosario Central in March, volleying a loose ball into the ground and into the net. He has been included in Gallardo's squad for the Club World Cup, while earlier in June he received an unexpected but very welcome phone call from Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, asking him to train with the Albiceleste's senior squad to prepare for their World Cup qualifier against Colombia.

Subiabre's main assets are his speed and acceleration, and his change of pace and ball control while running earned him the nickname Barrilete ['The Kite'] as a child.

His ability to dribble past opponents in tight spaces is perhaps his greatest attribute, although his ball-striking ability is also hugely impressive, particularly with his left foot.

"I'm a powerful forward and a goal-scorer," Subiabre told River Plate's website. "I'm strong in one-v-one situations and I like to drop deep to help my team-mates and get assists."

As is standard for a player who is only 18, Subiabre has to develop more physically and improve his fitness levels. It is telling that Gallardo has only given him more than 45 minutes on one occasion and has never started him in a match in any competition.

Indeed, his grandfather, the former boxer, urged Subiabre to work on bulking up. "He needs to look after his physique because he has the technical ability," he told La Nacion. "He is a great player and if he looks after himself as he has done up to know then I have no doubt that he'll go very far."

The forward will also want to improve his shooting with his right foot and he should try to hone his ability at scoring goals from long range to make him more unpredictable to defend against.

Subiabre cited Alvarez as his biggest role model in an interview with River Plate's website in 2022, when the now-Atletico Madrid striker was still playing for the Buenos Aires giants. "He is an extraordinary player. For me, he is an example to follow," Subiabre said. "He works his socks off in training and in matches he shows an enormous amount of quality. He is skilful, he's a goal-scorer and he is always pressing. And he understands the game perfectly."

Since then, Alvarez has won two Premier League titles, the FA Cup and Champions League, and won over the hearts of Atletico Madrid fans. Oh, and he played a huge role in Argentina winning the last World Cup. Alvarez is naturally the player every aspiring River Plate youngster looks up to, and although the Atletico forward plays more centrally than Subiabre and is more prolific, there are plenty of similarities between them.

Alvarez often drifts out on to the wings and drops far deeper than many strikers, while both players also have a keen eye for a through-ball to release fellow forwards from deep and a remarkable work ethic. Subiabre is known for running back and helping out his full-back, while Alvarez is a renowned work horse, which is why he is so beloved by Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentina team.

When speaking ahead of the U17 World Cup and after meeting Alvarez as well as Messi at the national team's training centre, Subiabre confirmed: "Julian is still my reference point and I just hope that I get to achieve as much as him."

While there is a tendency towards River Plate youngsters agreeing to big-money moves to Europe as soon as they have made their first-team debuts, if not before, Subiabre needs to have a longer run of games with his club before he can think about making his dream move across the Atlantic ocean. Alvarez, for example, scored six goals in one Copa Libertadores match and won the Copa America with Argentina before moving to City.

While there is already plenty of hype around Subiabre, which increased following reports Chelsea were watching him closely in Venezuela, the player needs to make a name for himself in Argentina first and grow physically so that he is ready whenever the time comes to follow in the footsteps of Alvarez, Fernandez and Mastantuono. That will only come with playing more regularly under Gallardo.

The injury suffered by River's main striker Sebastian Driussi in their Club World Cup opener against Urawa Red Diamonds could lead to more opportunities for the teenager, first in the United States and possibly then beyond as River turn their attentions to going deep in the Libertadores.

A good showing against Inter on Saturday and any further European opponents in the knockout rounds of the Club World Cup would put Subiabre on the map and bring him closer to that eventual move to one of the continent's top-five leagues, which increasingly feels like a case of when it will happen rather than if.