Pietro Pellegri Transfer to Monaco from Genoa Announced

Ligue 1 club AS Monaco have announced the signing of Genoa youngster Pietro Pellegri, beating a host of interested clubs to his signature.

The French champions announced the news via Twitter:

Pellegri had also been linked with Juventus and Manchester United, according to Andrew Richardson of The Sun. Gazzetta dello Sport (via Football Spy, for the Mirror) previously added Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal to the list of suitors and named Juventus as favourites.

Pellegri made headlines in May of last year when he became the first player born in 2001 to score in an official Serie A match, a 3-2 loss against AS Roma. He further flashed his potential in another 3-2 loss this season, bagging a brace against an in-form Lazio Roma squad.

Here's a look at some of the 16-year-old's top highlights:

Frequently compared to Zlatan Ibrahimovic for his impressive physical gifts and surprising technical ability for a player his size, Pellegri has long been regarded as one of Italy's top young talents. Per Richardson, Monaco will pay at least £22 million for his services―and potentially more via add-ons―highlighting just how highly the youngster is rated.

It's a coup for the French club and a big blow to Italy's major teams—Juventus in particular. The Bianconeri have done a fine job of keeping Italy's top emerging talents in the peninsula in recent years―Riccardo Orsolini and Mattia Caldara come to mind―but Pellegri is arguably more highly rated than any of them.

BT Sport's James Horncastle compared the move to one of Juventus' biggest transfer misses of the last decade, when the Italian giants lost out on Marco Verratti after he seemed almost certain to join:

It's worth noting Verratti had a solid track record of success in Serie B before he moved to PSG, however, whereas Pellegri has limited experience. For all of his talent, he hasn't featured all that much for Genoa this season, and those two goals against Lazio are the only ones he has scored in Serie A in the 2017-18 campaign.

Monaco will undoubtedly bring him along slowly, and they have an excellent track record when it comes to nurturing talent. The Ligue 1 champions did wonderful work with Kylian Mbappe, and Pellegri could follow a similar path in the next two years.