Coulibaly kid's the real thing

Souleymane Coulibaly ... remember the name. The Ivorian will be 17 on Boxing Day, and he will also, in due course, become one of the great goalscorers of the next decade. "Will" is a reckless word, but this kid is just too freakish a talent for "might". Perhaps "should" is a fair compromise.

Last week, Coulibaly compiled an epic hat-trick for the Ivory Coast against Brazil at the under-17 World Cup in Mexico. YouTube the footage - it will warm your feet.

First came a solo scorcher, struck with the outside of his left boot from a preposterous angle, after he had bamboozled the Brazilian fullback with a devilishly deft switch from his right foot to his left. Next, a one-touch poach of the highest quality - Coulibaly scampered onto a through ball and haughtily stabbed the ball home with the outside of his right foot. The third? A bicycle kick, naturally, from nine yards out.

Until the Baby Elephants were bounced from the tournament by France in the second round, the Siena sensation had plundered nine of his side's 10 goals in four matches, including four strikes against Denmark. Real Madrid are stalking Coulibaly, though he should heed sensible advice and stay at the Italian club, who can inflict him on Serie A defences next season.

Coulibaly has an Eto'oish quality: while he's shorter and stockier than the Cameroonian, he moves with similar guile, and shoots with similarly clean and accurate force.

Of course there's many a slip twixt the under-17 World Cup and the pinnacle of club football; dozens of fine prospects have meandered into obscurity. You would expect the list of names in the best two squads in the 2001 edition, won by France, with Nigeria taking silver, to contain a clutch of big-league stars in their prime.

But the biggest name you'll see is that of Florent Sinama-Pongolle, who also netted nine times in that tournament. All of that Nigerian generation have either vanished from the professional game or are playing at home or in low-rent European leagues.

And football history is littered with examples of thrilling young promise that went unfulfilled.

The sad declines of Nii Lamptey and Sebastian Deisler were related to injury, misfortune and depression. But sometimes a prodigy doesn't mature with his peers, for no clear reason. Take Sergio Santamaria, winner of the Golden Ball at the 1997 under-17 World Cup, who was signing up with Spanish fourth-tier side Alhaurin Torre last June, at age 30, while his old teammates David Villa and Iker Casillas were winning the World Cup.

It's too soon to pass judgment on the itinerant ex-wonderkid Freddy Adu, who is still only 22. But his current gig - on loan from Benfica with Turkish second division side Çaykur Rizespor - is not encouraging. The cruel truth is that he just isn't all that good.

Adu, anointed an MLS star at 14, was arguably a victim of American soccer's desperation for a commercially compelling hero. The league's executives - and the media - needed a player to symbolise the rise of the global game in the US, and wilfully made Adu that player.

You may ask whether it's just as foolish to hype Coulibaly, as this article and many others are doing, on the evidence of one week's action. Having just watched his hat-trick for the fifth time, I don't think so. Hype or no hype, this kid is in control.