Messi and Aguero Fans.
Fans of Argentina stand at the entry of a hotel where the Argentina soccer selection is hosted in Guatemala City. Reuters

A new book published by Chilean journalist Juan Pablo Meneses entitled "Niños futbolistas" ("Soccer Kids") has begun to make waves for its tough-minded look at a European soccer industry which places at the feet of Latin America's most talented soccer-playing youths a choice which will define their lives: stay at home, or sell yourself to a scout who could help you become a professional. Meneses, a veteran investigative journalist, described the choices of Latin American youths even more starkly in an interview with GQ, "In Latin America, there are two ways to get out of poverty, no more: soccer and drug dealing".

"Niños futbolistas" is a work of what Meneses calls "cash journalism". "In writing 'Niños futbolistas'," he says in the prologue, "my plan consisted of buying the book's protagonist in cash...just that simple; buy and then tell about it, consumption + writing. All with the objective of getting to know, from inside and up close, those parts of the industry and business which, for reasons which we'll go along revealing in these pages, we usually ignore or which usually don't matter to us." It isn't the first time he's practiced this unusual style of journalism - for his 2008 book "La vida de una vaca" ("A Cow's Life"), Meneses bought a cow, and wrote about what happens between the birth of a calf and the time it lands on someone's plate.

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The parallels are uncomfortable. But the logic which sustains them derives from the practices of a European soccer industry which dangles a fast-cash incentive before youth (and their parents) who often see no means of cultivating other talents which might help them move up in society's ranks. FIFA currently prohibits teams from recruiting minors less than 18, with three exceptions: if the child's parents can arrange to have their job moved to accommodate where their child will be playing, if it's among countries of the same continent and the child is guaranteed to be able to continue their studies, or if the continents are different but the countries are less than 50 kilometers apart. But teams often find a loophole in the first case and offer parents a job. The association estimates that for every player who makes it to the professional leagues, 20 others fail along the way.

One of the young talents which Meneses tries to "buy" in the book, an 11-year-old boy, tells him that what he likes most about famous soccer players is that many of them are from humble backgrounds. "These kids are used to seeing a guy who went around in the streets without shoes come back to their city in a luxury car," the journalist told Gonzoo.com. "And it's a story that gets repeated, because the media only tells the success stories, which in reality are a minority."

For the book, Meneses also talked to scouts, including Josep Maria Minguella, one of the scouts who "discovered" Argentine star Lionel Messi. Minguella tells him, "The clubs give those kids a better life. They take them and their families out of poverty and give them an education. There's very little negative here." Meneses appears skeptical, asking whether the kids might've been happier at home with their families.

One of his conclusions is clear. "Europe has cleaned out Latin America with regard to soccer."

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