Colombia exports youthful talent

The Colombian league is the 10th most important soccer-player market in the world, according to a report from Colombia' s local daily El Tiempo published Sunday.

The report said Colombian soccer players are now blooming in the international market. Many of them, very young, now go to play abroad.

These young players get lured by better contracts and unique chances.Some of the players, said the report, go to "intermediate" countries such as Argentina, Brazil or Mexico while others go directly to Europe.This is explained because the Colombian player is cheaper, talented and the local clubs need to sell them.

The most recent case is Rafael Santos Borre, 19, from Deportivo Cali, who will play in Europe. He was sold to a business group that might be placed in Spain' s Atletico de Madrid in 2016. The negotiation was worth some 5.5 million euros.

Santos is one of the new figures of Colombian football. He was part of Colombia' s youth national soccer team and he was once called to play in the big team.

According to Luis Felipe Posso, player broker, said there are three reasons for the Colombian boom. "One is the good performance of Colombia, the second is the good performance of Colombian players in Europe, and the third one is that they are cheaper than Brazilians, Argentines, Uruguayans and Chileans," he said. Endi