La Liga giants set to do battle for Argentine whizzkid

Real Madrid and Barcelona are reportedly locked in a race to sign 16-year-old Velez Sarsfield winger Gianluca Prestianni.

The Blaugrana beat Los Merengues 3-1 in the Spanish Super Cup last night and will now hope to vanquish their La Liga rivals in the transfer market by signing the highly-rated Argentine prodigy. 

Prestianni has already debuted for Velez's first team, in the process becoming the third-youngest player to appear in the Argentine top-flight after Diego Maradona and Sergio Aguero.

Real Madrid, particularly, have been training their sights on the Brazilian market in recent years, but Prestianni is set to gain an Italian passport in the summer and would therefore not occupy a non-EU spot in their squad.