Who the heck is Tomas Sandoval and why is Fiorentina interested?

So Pantaleo Corvino really likes signing unheralded youngsters before anyone has heard of them. We know this. We accept this. He’s like your super hipster uncle who knows all the cool bands before you do, and while you’re not quite sure why or how, you’re okay with it. But man, this one’s a bit much even for the Corvine One.

17-year-old Tomas Sandoval is a striker for Colon. He’s 6’1 (185 cm for yall who are smart enough to use the metric system), and he’s made all of 6 professional appearances in his career, scoring this 1 goal.

From that clip and a bit more YouTube research, you can see that he looks pretty sturdy, especially for a teenager, and that he knows how to find and make space for himself in the box. He recently suffered a serious head injury that put him in the hospital for a night, but seems to have recovered alright. For the rest, he’s got decent pace for a big man and looks to be fairly good in the air, although he’s not likely to dribble through a defense and uncork a belter from 25 yards out. Instead, he looks like more of a classic target man.

AS Roma are also interested in a player who’s drawn the odd Mauro Icardi comparison back in Argentina, but that’s awfully premature. Given Corvino’s preference for precocious teenagers, he fits the profile, but he’d almost certainly be stashed with the Primavera for a year, then spend a few more out on loan. He’s got some potential, but requires a lot of polish. On the plus side, he’d probably be cheap purchase with a fair amount of upside, although his father says that, while they’re flattered by the Fiorentina interest, they don’t plan on moving until June at the earliest.