Sebastián Driussi     20     Striker     River Plate     Argentina

Skinny

A young Argentinian striker playing for River and scoring goals regularly? Yes, this is a product and/or service IBWM is interested in and may well endorse. Sebastián Driussi has looked, this season to date at least, like the real deal. Don’t get us wrong, he’s always shaped up like a striker of potential but something’s clicked and life is good.

Previously marked for inconsistency and games that seemed to completely pass him by, he had struggled to reproduce his blistering performances at youth levels for club and country. There are signs that’s now behind him, and first team goals to match.

Next big Argentine mega star centre-forward? Maybe, maybe not, but the potential is huge.

2016 has been…

…very much an upward trend.

Sometimes we’re too hard on young players, even here in the 100 where desperately try to temper criticism with reason we can demand too much. With a striker we look and think goals = progress, no goals = going backwards. Perhaps your reviewer here has been guilty of that in the past and is wary of over selling Driussi, but something has definitely changed and that something is his position.

As often happens with a young player desperate for minutes he has deputised on the left, right, in midfield and just occasionally in his real position - as a striker.

This year a run in his favoured spot has brought huge rewards (nearly a goal a game at the time of writing) and he looks happy, settled and bursting to get on the ball.

This is a player who now believes. He tore through youth football at times but the first team is a different world and despite promise we were slightly worried. 2014 and 2015 were all about potential, 2016 needed to be about some level of progress. Thankfully that’s exactly what we have and we’re finishing the year with a striker playing as a striker and in the form of his first-team life.

What’s next?

Just keep doing exactly what you’re doing now. The scoring ratio is phenomenal at the moment and that might not be sustainable, but the development game-on-game is clear. Driussi needed to get a bit more physical presence - growth and confidence has given him that - and he needed a ruthless streak which is now there.

We don’t want to overstate things but there aren’t too many players who have come so far in the last 12 months. He’s far from perfect but he’s so young that all those rough edges have time to get knocked off. The interest from European clubs and particularly Serie A’s biggest names has been inevitable but we’re desperate for him to stay at River to grow. Two more years and then consider the move as they’ll all still be watching. His release clause currently is about £10m if you believe reports, if he carries on expect River to tie him to a contract that reflects his true potential very quickly.

B     Keep this up, don’t leave River too soon, and we’ll continue to be very excited