Real Madrid are watching River Plate striker Julian Alvarez.

Alvarez has scored 15 goals and provided six assists for River in 16 games to this point, and curiously he had a brief spell in Los Blancos' academy as a child.

"He spent a month in Madrid. He made such a difference playing here that they came to see him from everywhere," Claudio Gorgerino, the mayor of Calchin, Alvarez's hometown, told Infobae.

"He would overpower his opponents. He'd go left or right and get into the box."

Unfortunately for Alvarez, his young age meant that he could not stay at Real Madrid.

"You had to wait until you were 16. If the same regulations had been in place as when [Lionel] Messi arrived at Barcelona, Julian would have been a Real Madrid player," said Piero Foglia, a scout in Argentina.

Real Madrid's main target is Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, but they are keeping an eye out for any talented young strikers that could join the club in the short term.