A YouTube clip featuring 18-month-old Dutch boy Baerke van der Meij skilfully flicking three balls into a small toy box with his right foot has generated worldwide attention.
Fans of the Dutch soccer club VVV Venlo told their team about the clip, which has attracted more than 180 000 hits on the internet, and the Dutch strugglers decided to bring some attention to the club by arranging a publicity stunt involving toddler Baerke van der Meij.
The club called a joke news conference for the boy from Venlo, the grandson of a member of their media staff, for their own in-house television channel, but were stunned at the level of interest it caused.
International news outlets have picked up on the story and Dutch newspapers published a photo of the little Leo Messi in the making. The year-and-a-half boy has gone from kindergarden kid to hottest property in international football overnight.