Who is Leonel Flores, Boca Juniors’ new jewel: he can be signed for just 20 million

Flores was born in February 2007 in Villa La Cava, a shanty town in one of the poorest districts of Beccar, in the northern part of Buenos Aires. Everyone calls him "Benja", short for Benjamín, his middle name. Scouts spotted his talent straight away and at the age of seven they took him into Boca’s youth set-up. He came through the entire system, scoring five goals in one match and even an Olympic goal. For ten years he got up at 5 in the morning to catch the bus to training. Last July brought the first big opportunity. Boca manager Arruabarrena gave him his debut and the boy responded with a goal. By September he had already been called up by Argentina:Scaloni sent him on against Bolivia. He also played against Burkina Faso and, as mentioned, against Benin in Messi’s last game.

Extremely quick and powerful, he is a modern player who can operate on the right or left wing, as a centre-forward or off another striker. He described himself as someone who can play as a number 7, 9 or 11. He is right-footed and sees dribbling as his main strength. His idols are Lionel Messi and Juan Román Riquelme and, to improve in one-on-one situations, he said he watches how Exequiel Zeballos, Jérémy Doku and Jamal Musiala play and tries to take as much as possible from them.

He plays a lot and he plays well. He has 4 goals and 3 assists in 18 matches for Boca. Add in his numbers across all competitions and for the second team, and that rises to 13 goals and 7 assists in 36 appearances. His name has also started to travel beyond Argentina for a curious reason. Recently, he played as many as 4 matches in 7 days, between club and country. His tour de force started with his debut for the Argentina national team against Bolivia, continued with his return to Boca, when he came off the bench in the second half against Unión de Santa Fe and scored a brace, and ended with the Selección’s other two matches against Burkina Faso and Benin. Scaloni already loves him: "Flores is doing very well and we must take care of him. We have to stay close to him, support him. He and Franco (Mastantuono) are young players who will bring us joy," he said.

Even so, he is still young and has the energy for that kind of schedule. He has always had it. Speaking to Olé, his first coach Christian Benítez backed that up. He first set him on his path at El Zorzal, a neighbourhood club in San Isidro. "My son would throw him the ball and at five years old he would do overhead kicks. And they all ended up in the net. I am a River Plate fan, but now I watch Boca Juniors matches. Imagine how I feel. And I watch them for him. Now I celebrate his goals too. The only Boca shirt that will ever come into my house is his," he said jokingly.

His rapid and explosive rise has, of course, drawn the attention of many foreign clubs to the 19-year-old. Right now, Transfermarkt values the player at €8 million , but that figure looks certain to rise as he plays more for both club and country, where he has now become a regular. Boca quickly extended Flores' contract until 2029 and inserted a release clause set at $20 million, but it can rise to 25 if the transfer takes place after the Argentine market closes or in its final days. Since he broke into the first team, the Xeneize have put together a run of 16 matches without defeat, so his situation will probably be reassessed at the end of the season. If he has improved this much in just a few weeks, who knows where he might be in a few months' time.