'MESSI OF THE SNOWS'

Such were the similarities in talent observers saw in Nancufil with Messi at the same age, dribbling past bigger and older boys with ease, that he was called the "Messi of the snows".

"We're happy because both the kid and his family deserve an opportunity like this," Ernalz told Argentina's Cadena 3 in a recent interview.

"He's physically small and had the same growth problems detected in Messi when he was little, and he's getting hormone treatment."

His mother Viviana said Claudio, who is from a humble background with origins in the Mapuche indians of the southern Andean mountain range, could not explain how he played.

"We asked him, how do you do that? And he said, 'I don't know. I just get it in my head and my feet move on their own. It's like that," she told Reuters.

"'I don't know how I play like that. My legs just go.' That's what he told us," Viviana Nancufil said at pitchside while watching her son play.

"We would kid him about it, we'd say that he ran by remote control," she said laughing, adding that over and above Claudio's talent she wanted a good future for her two sons including 11-year-old Braian.

"That's my dream, that they will always be good people, (Claudio) as a footballer or in any profession."