Serie A side Torino's chairman Urbano Cairo has made a huge claim, revealing that Italian starlet Andrea Belotti is worth more then five time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi. The 23-year-old has been in brilliant form this season scoring 22 goals in 24 league games, with his performances garnering interest from a host of top European clubs including Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Andrea Belotti worth more than Lionel Messi-Torino chairman Urbano Cairo
LMFAO pic.twitter.com/GSMmZbxnwm
Cairo, reportedly regrets not putting a higher release clause in the contract of the striker, who at the moment has a 100m clause which the 21-year-old signed last December which runs till 2021.
Andrea Belotti has become the first player to score 20 goals in Serie A this season. � pic.twitter.com/SfU8ATjTUG
"If you think back to when we inserted that clause, €100m seemed a crazy figure, but today it seems too low.If I were to do the clause now, I would put it at €150m. Just compare him to the goals Lionel Messi has scored, yet Belotti is younger so he's worth more", Cairo said, as quoted byLa Gazzetta dello Sport.
WATCH: Andrea Belotti completed a hat-trick in just 8 minutes against Palermo. Il Gallo now has 22 Serie A goals this season. pic.twitter.com/Qcia6pfCH9
The Italian at present is second behind Messi in the racefor the European Golden Shoe award, which has not gone to an Italian since Francesco Totti won it with 26 goals in 2006-07.
Despite the reported interest from a number of clubs, Torino managerSinisa Mihajlovic hopes that the forward will remain with them for another season, claiming he can get a lot better by staying at Turin for the time being.