Name: Francisco Trincao

Club: Barcelona

Date of Birth: 29 December 1999

Position: Right-winger

FRANCISCO TRINCAO - HIS CAREER SO FAR

Even though he is only 20 years of age and yet to fully stake his claim on the biggest European stages, Francisco Trincao is already regarded as one of the hottest young prospects in world football. Barcelona have been able to scoop him up from the Portuguese Braga and he is set to join the Catalan giants later on this month as they start preparing for the upcoming 2020/21 season.

But who exactly is Trincao and how has he managed to end up at one of the biggest clubs on the planet? For the youngster, the first steps towards greatness began back home in Portugal, playing for the local side SC Vianense. But the interesting thing about him is that he had numerous spells with different clubs in those first years as a footballer, including a stint in Porto's youth squad as well as playing for Braga on two separate occasions even before fully settling there in 2016.

On 2 April that same year, he made his bow for their reserve team in Segunda Liga, coming on as a late substitute in a game that ended in a 2-1 defeat to SC Freamunde. And while that debut didn't quite go the way he probably would've wanted, it was still a beginning of something special for a young player that would soon start turning many heads. Trincao ended up playing a total of 46 games for Braga B, scoring and assisting six goals along the way as well.

Needless to say, this was more than enough to warrant his eventual promotion to the first-team in 2018, having previously penned a new five-year contract with the Portuguese side. This time, his debut was much more successful as he both tallied more minutes in his first game and Braga won the clash as well, brushing past Vitoria FC with a 4-0 scoreline and Trincao coming on in the 62nd minute.

As a whole, he has played a total of 48 games for them so far, scoring nine goals and assisting 13, even eclipsing his B team haul in the process as well. In January 2020, Barcelona officially confirmed the 20-year-old would join them in Catalonia at the end of the 2019/20 campaign.

Now, the stage is set for him to shine in La Liga as well.

TRANSFER LATEST

Even though he is yet to record his first game for Barcelona, there are transfer rumours connecting him with a move to the Premier League. According to the latest transfer news, Leicester City are interested in securing the 20-year-old's services this summer.

They see Barcelona's financial struggles as an opportunity to pounce and potentially take the youngster on loan before making his stay permanent after two seasons in England. So far, no other Leicester City transfer news have told us more than that but it seems like the deal could indeed be quite difficult to get over the line seeing how Barcelona value their talent quite highly.

PLAYER PROFILE

Trincao is a highly skilled and technical right-winger who excels both at creating and exploiting the space in the final third. His movement and positioning are already on an exceptionally high level despite his young age and he likes to use his dribbling skills to blaze past the opposition defenders.

There have even been comparisons with Lionel Messi due to their similar style of play. Trincao, just like the Argentine, likes to cut inside from the right side and take his markers head-on. It seems that this area in and around zone 14 is where he loves to position himself often and it's from there that he can impact play the most.

As far as his passing is concerned, there are certainly signs of potential there but as of right now, that doesn't seem like one of his highlighted strengths.