He has a contract with one of football's biggest clubs and the same long, floppy hair and nickname Leo of his idol, Lionel Messi.

It may take awhile, however, before Leonel Angel Coira can match the wondrous Messi: He is 7 years old.

Real Madrid said Monday it signed the Argentine prodigy to its youth academy after seeing him in tryouts.

Coira hopes to follow the path set by Messi, a countryman who joined Barcelona from the Argentine club Newell's Old Boys as a teenager and has gone on to win the World Player of the Year award two times.

"(My) dream is to meet Messi, play in the first division with Madrid and for Argentina in the World Cup," Coira told the Spanish newspaper ABC.

- Associated Press