Real Mallorca’s Luka Romero created history by becoming the youngest ever to play in La Liga at the age 15 years and 219 days. He broke the record held for 81 years by Francisco Bao Rodriguez. The 15-year-old has been started training with senior team ever since 1st June. The youngster made his debut when he substituted Idrissu Baba in the 83rd minute of the 2-0 loss to Zinedine Zidane’s side to set a new record in the Spanish league.
The previous record was held by Francisco Bao Rodriguez, who played on December 31, 1939 aged 15 and 255 days for Celta Vigo against Sevilla. Romero tool to social media to express gratitude to play a game at the clu and wrote, “It was an unforgettable moment. Thank you to everyone on the technical staff and at Real Mallorca for giving me this opportunity. I will never forget this day. It was a shame to lose but we keep believing.”
Mallorca coach Vicente Moreno was seen interacting with Romero before he made is debut and was quoted saying “I tried to just keep him calm. I put my hand on his heart and I could tell it was beating very fast, which is normal for a kid of his age. He deserved to play and that’s the reason he came on. We don’t look at age. He has been training well and this seemed the best way to increase his motivation. He’s a great player and I think in the future he will give us a lot.”
Romero was born in Mexico and is being hailed as the next Leo Messi. His family is Argentinian and he has already represented Argentina at the under-15 level. While interacting with the media about his dreams is to play for Argentina national side and wear national team’s colours someday. Romero, like Messi, is left-footed and is known for his dribbling ability.
His first coach at international level, Alejandro Sagesse was quoted saying “He played a great South American championship. He has a big future. The word is caution. We are talking about a kid of 15 years old. Does he play well? Yes, but his document says Luka Romero, not Lionel Messi. He has to write his own story.”
Romero is being considered as the player who’ll carry the mantle after Messi and will have huge shoes to fill. What is interesting to note that Romero also had trials with Barcelona but finally decided to join Mallorca in 2011. He has come through the club’s youth teams, he was part of the team as a substitute vs Villarreal and Leganes but finally made his debut against Real Madrid.
The assistant manager of Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Daniel Pendín was quoted saying “He is left-footed, fast, clever, mischievous, competitive … the prototype of the Argentinian number 10.”
Pendin further added “We have seen him develop since he was 12-years-old, but we did not want to build him up too fast because you have to take care of him. We saw him playing, he was doing incredible things in his age category, but physically he had not quite finished his growth and that could bring him problems if he came up against first division players too early. Today, when we see his feet, his body, we see that he is starting to form. And the fact that his father was a footballer also helps him a lot.”
Mallorca are sitting 18th in the La Liga table, with three points away from safety with seven games are yet to play.
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