Argentina’s post-Messi future is bright: The next generation is being led by an all-conquering Di Maria regen

In an era where young guns consistently remind us mortals how old and decrepit we are, the River Plate academy is making a point of hammering it home and making us feel extra talentless with a string of starlets.

Football is no stranger to a young baller punching above their weight, smashing the glass ceiling and bursting onto the scene in a bid to create a legacy, but there are moments when an anomaly breaks through and we all stand still for a moment.

Blink and you’ll miss it. One moment, a team is floundering and yet the next, they’ve suddenly plucked a youngster out of the academy, thrown him to the wolves and they’ve started playing like a 10-year veteran who’s swept up accolades and honours for fun.

Those are the real diamonds in the world of young footballers. Unpolished, but unshaken. Exuding an arrogance that matches their ability and will undoubtedly carry them to the top of the mountain while we wonder where it went wrong as we lather on the deep heat for another hour at Powerleague.

When they make you question your otherwise illustrious six-a-side career, however, that’s when you know you’ve stumbled on a gem of the highest order. Just one watch of River Plate’s Franco Mastantuono is all it’ll take to unlock that emotion.

Born in August 2007 – no, really – in the Buenos Aries province of Argentina, Mastantuono might’ve missed the launch of the Xbox 360, but he wasted no time when it came to football, kicking a ball around from the age of just three years old at River de Azul, where his father was a coach.

By age 10, he was being offered a spot in the academy at River Plate – which he declined in a bid to pursue tennis.

Some things are just meant to be, however, and for the boy who has been playing football for as