AC Milan appear to be closing in on the signing of Luka Romero on a free transfer from Lazio, and more details begin to emerge about a relative unknown character.
La Gazzetta dello Sport write how Romero was a part of the show ‘Champions – The dream’ which was a reality programme about football with Christian Arrieta and Maradona Junior back in summer 2015.
In Palma de Mallorca on the Balearic Islands, Romero was aiming to establish his footballing career. He was born in Mexico to Argentinian parents but had been living in Spain for a while by then.
The broadcaster IB3, an independent channel on the island, decides to organize a reality show on football. They gathered 500 talented kids, sets up four auditions between Ibiza and Mallorca and called dozens of scouts.
The stands populated, the cameras scanned the field and young talents showed what they could do. Romero dribbled past everyone, passed the tests and bewitched one of the scouts, Gustavo Siviero.
He took off his sunglasses at the end of the session and started dialling phone numbers trying to get ahead of the others, stating: “I’ve found a talent.”
Fast forward to today, and after a couple of seasons with Lazio it seems certain that Romero will play at Stefano Pioli’s Milan. Last year he scored one goal in nine Serie A matches. He plays on the right wing, he’s left-footed and Lionel Scaloni – the Argentina World Cup winning boss – noticed this.
In 2022 he included him among the pre call-ups for the World Cup. Romero is the youngest debutant in LaLiga history and carries with him a cumbersome nickname – the ‘Mini-Messi’ – above all for his physique and attacking style.
Romero made his debut in 2019 and scored a couple of goals in six games. In 2015 he had signed with Mallorca, but even then half of Europe wanted him as revealed by Alejandro Saggese, the first coach to call up Luka with the Argentina U15 team.
In the last two years he has scored one goal in 21 games and has not had much playing time, but Milan could be the right club to relaunch his career.