On Saturday, nineteen-year-old Argentina youth international Mauro Icardi was in the headlines as Italy manager Cesare Prandelli announced he’d like to talk the youngster into switching international allegiance to Italy, where he plays for Sampdoria (who refused to release him for Argentina’s Sudamericano Sub 20 squad), and a country of which he is a citizen (Icardi has dual Argentine-Italian nationality). On Sunday, Icardi showed just how much the pressure was getting to him by hitting four goals in Samp’s 6-0 thrashing of Pescara.

Icardi was talked about as far back as 2008 as a ‘new Messi’, including on this very blog, and with four goals in one match a few weeks before his twentieth birthday, he’s certainly doing a good job of following in the great man’s footsteps, even though his time at Barcelona has now come to an end. Just three weeks ago, Icardi hit a double to help Samp to a 2-1 win against Juventus. With the second, fourth, fifth and sixth goals of Sampdoria’s haul today, he’s not going quell the speculation.