Malaga made the youngster a huge promise in a bid to see off keen interest from Barcelona, but it is at the Etihad Stadium where his future lies
With the world’s biggest clubs flocking to see Brahim Diaz, one of the brightest prospects in Spanish football, Malaga made their youngster a promise: “If you stay with us, you’ll be playing in La Liga when you’re 16.”
Brahim was not even a teenager at that point but Malaga had decided they needed to act.
The Andalusian club had got ahead of the competition once by snapping him up at seven years of age from local side Tiro Pichon, but by the time he was 10 it was they who were being raided: Brahim had not only been scouted by bigger, richer clubs, he had actually been whisked off to Barcelona and shown around the Camp Nou dressing rooms by Lionel Messi and, in a quirk of fate, Pep Guardiola.