Wellington schoolboy Eugenio Pizzuto now one of Mexico's brightest football prospects

Eugenio Pizzuto attended Scot's College, trained at the Wellington Phoenix academy and attended A-League matches at Westpac Stadium. Now he's on the cusp of stardom in his native Mexico, earning a dream call-up to the national team at the age 17.

Yes, it sounds unbelievable. But so did Sarpreet Singh playing for Bayern Munich and now look at him.

"It's incredible, it really is. They don't hold them back over there, they really don't," said Jess Ibrom, who first saw Pizzuto during a scouting mission to Mexico in 2013.

"Our model was not only to recruit the best talent we could find in New Zealand but also abroad; South-East Asia, Latin America and other countries. Mexico we had good links there and we would go over on a regular basis and watch players.

"The profile of the Mexican player is so different to the normal Kiwi player but when you mix them in the same training group it really, really accelerates all of their development."

On this occasion more than 150 players attended a week-long trial in the town of Monclova, and one of those players was Pizzuto. He went along with his brother, Guillermo.

Ibrom said he immediately stood out and was subsequently invited, along with his brother, to join the academy, which is today known as the Wellington Phoenix Football Academy and places much more emphasis on developing future A-League players like Singh.

So that is how a Mexican wonderkid ended up in New Zealand.

Pizzuto was only 12 when he arrived, which meant he was unable to play competitive matches due a Fifa regulation that prevents professional clubs from poaching minors. However, Ibrom said friendly matches were organised during the week against other school sides so Pizzuto and another foreign player from the academy, Calvin Harris, did not completely miss out, even if they were unable to register with a club and could not play in the National Youth League.

He enrolled at Scot's College and played more than 40 games over two seasons, mostly as a wide attacking player, before returning to Mexico where he hoped to fulfil his dream of becoming a professional footballer. He is still on that journey today. He plays youth football at Pachuca, recently captained his country at under-17 level and is expected to be a key player at the upcoming Under-17 World Cup in Brazil, where he will likely play another Phoenix academy player in Raphael Le'ai as Mexico have been drawn against the Solomon Islands.

But his promise is so great that Mexican national team coach Tata Martino selected Pizzuto in his 24-man squad for their latest training camp ahead of the Concacaf Nations League.

"He came for the English as well and to be part of a really strong academic programme like Scot's College. But we knew he wasn't going to stay here long term," Ibrom said.

"Did I think he would go into the Mexican under-17 team and be captain and fly in the direction he's flying in? Probably not. But I definitely knew he would go back to Mexico and go into a top club over there.

"Those international boys, like Calvin Harris, we knew it's quite tough in the sense of breaking in as a foreigner into the A-League so their pathway is invariably going to be going back home or going into the US college pathway. He was having a lot of interest in Mexico and that was probably down to how much his profile had been boosted for him to be part of an A-League club on the other side of the world in New Zealand."

Ibrom, who has been appointed as Tasman United's director of football, recently had the opportunity to spend five weeks with Pizzuto at Pachuca, where he got a first hand glimpse at how much the young midfielder has progressed.

"Seeing him train with the 17s was just fantastic. He would go into the 20s and he's so highly thought of. I ended up watching a series with the US, Argentina and Chile and he was the top goal-scorer and player of the tournament, so he's doing really well, really well.

"The club he's at, they're the best club in Mexico for developing players. They have a really good model, they move players over to Europe and they don't tend to sell players to other Mexican clubs because they are their opposition."