Pietro Pellegri has become the second most expensive 16-year-old in history after completing his move from Genoa to Monaco for an initial €20m (£17.1m).
Pellegri, who became the first player born in 2001 to score a goal in Serie A in May, had previously been linked with a move to Juventus, Arsenal and Manchester United but will join the Ligue 1 club instead for a fee that has only been exceeded by the £39.6m Real Madrid paid to sign the Brazilian Vinícius Júnior from Flamengo last year.
“I am very happy to join Monaco,” Pellegri said. “I was very quickly convinced of the project that allows young people like me to progress and flourish in the future.”
"Nous sommes très heureux d’accueillir Pietro. C'est une preuve supplémentaire que notre travail ces dernières saisons, les résultats et les joueurs qui se sont révélés sous notre maillot permettent d'attirer les plus grands talents du football européen."
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) January 27, 2018
_____ Vadim Vasilyev pic.twitter.com/S8dtk08VRn
Pellegri became the joint-youngest player to play in Serie A when he made his debut in December 2016 at the age of 15 years and 280 days and in May made history with his first goal against AS Roma. In September he became the youngest player to score twice in a Serie A match when he was on target in the 3-2 home defeat by Lazio.
Despite that, Pellegri has made only 10 competitive appearances and the move is likely to raise more questions about the spiralling costs of the international transfer market.
Monaco sold the striker Guido Carrillo to Southampton last week for £19.2m and have also rejected a €40m bid from Napoli for Keita Baldé. The Senegal international and team-mate Thomas Lemar are both thought to be interesting the Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp.
