Scout report of Austrian Messi

Kolkata, March 19: Over the years, Austria have produced some exceptionally gifted players such as Matthias Sindelar, David Alaba Josef Bican.

The country has now become a hotbed of talents and a young player who has impressed recently is Yusuf Demir.

Just 17, Demir has attracted interest from almost every top club in Europe with Barcelona leading the race for the signature of the wonderkid.

The young forward is already a regular for his boyhood club Rapid Wien and has also been called up for the Austrian senior team.

Every time a left footed and technically gifted player getting plenty plenty of attention, comparisons with Lionel Messi comes up quite naturally and Demir joins that long list of footballers to be christened as the 'Next Messi'.

Demir looks most comfortable in the number ten role in a 4-2-3-1 system. But for a player of his age, he has shown immense maturity.

He is excellent on the ball and can dribble past defenders with relative ease. However, it would be wrong to presume that he is not strong physically.

Demir strikes the perfect balance between being able to ensure that he is not outmuscled easily and being technically gifted enough to make space for himself and his team-mates just like Messi.