Hagi sizes a free- kick from 25 yards before curling with his left boot in to the top corner. Kluivert ghosts in to the area unnoticed before finishing with a diving header. Two Barcelona shirts close on Zidane only for him to pirouette and spin between the hapless pair.
Meet Ianis, Justin and Enzo, the teenage sons of Gheorghe, Patrick and Zinedine who are now following in their father’s stud marks and are already the subject of YouTube compilations.
There are more; Joe van der Sar, Christian Maldini, Giovanni Simeone. Then there are the Brazilians; Rivaldinho (little Rivaldo) and Romarinho.
If horse-racing superstar Frankel is commanding £125,000 in stud fees, perhaps football clubs should consider paying a pre-birth premium for the offspring of the game’s best players.
Is it, then, genetics? Or is it nurture over nature?
Paul Ince was enjoying a kickabout with his toddler, Tom, in an apartment in Milan when something struck him.
‘I suddenly realised he was left footed – which is rare – and he just loved kicking the ball,’ recalls the former Inter and England midfielder, who has seen his boy mature in to a Premier League winger with Hull.
‘I then saw how well he travelled with the ball and it all seemed natural – I thought, “He’s got a chance here”.’
Martin Keown’s son, Niall, 19, is on the books at Reading and has made the bench at senior level. The former Arsenal and England defender also knew from an early age his boy had the makings of a footballer.
‘I didn’t think when he was born, “Right, my son is going to be a footballer”,’ says the father of two.
‘But you do think there might be something in the genes which could transfer.
‘You keep an eye on them. You watch closely and there is a way that they move and address the ball. You think, “Hold on, this looks a natural thing for him to do”.
‘But I’m also a strong believer that it’s environmental. One of my sons is a footballer, the other is a journalist who knows everything about football – that’s the environment they’ve been brought up in.’
Gus Poyet’s son, Diego, is a 19-year-old midfielder who made his debut for West Ham in August. The Sunderland manager agrees with Keown that an immersion in football helps shape character and mindset.
‘I think he has got a chance and this is why – it is because he lives, sleeps, eats and breathes football,’ says Poyet.
‘He doesn’t care about anything else other than football. Like his dad! He is always thinking about playing.’
Poyet, though, decided against taking Diego with him to Wearside and instead advised him to join the Hammers from Charlton during the summer. Steve Bruce, meanwhile, has twice signed son Alex for Birmingham and Hull. Likewise, Ince managed Tom at Notts County and Blackpool.
But Poyet said: ‘I would love to coach him, but at the same time it would be unfair on him.
‘Do you think the players on the bench would accept it if I’m playing my son? West Ham is a great opportunity.’
Keown’s son is a centre back, and a no-nonsense one at that. Hagi’s boy, 16, is a diminutive playmaker with a wand of a left boot. He plays for Vitorul Constanta – The Future Football Club – in Romania, a club founded in 2009 and owned by his famous father.
Kluivert’s son scores goals and Van der Sar’s is a goalkeeper, both in the Ajax academy. Rivaldo’s boy, meanwhile, recently scored a spectacular overhead-kick having first taken control of the ball on his chest, much like his dad once did for Barcelona to complete his hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Valencia in 2001. Zidane’s eldest, 19-year-old midfielder Enzo, has trained with the Real Madrid first team and is easy on the eye.
There is, however, the odd player who deviates from the father-like-son narrative. Ince Snr was a combative midfielder, Ince Jnr is a pacey wideman.
‘I think it’s easier for Thomas that he has his own identity,’ he says. ‘Not many people draw comparison between myself and Thomas any more, because he is so different as a player.
‘Although I’ll tell you a secret – when I was younger I used to dribble around three or four and put it in the top corner as well! I used to score 40 goals a season but West Ham made me a midfielder who got it and passed it. So I do take some credit!’
So how much of a part does senior play in the development of junior?
‘We had an area set out at our old house where I could work with him on certain things,’ reveals Keown.
‘I see a lot of me in there. But now he has to want it for himself. The next step is making your own decisions and being your own player.’
There has been an explosion of pushy parents in an age where the financial rewards of making it pro are life-changing. But what about the former players? Keown and Poyet differ, whereas Ince plays good cop and bad cop.
‘I am his biggest critic. I am terrible,’ admits Poyet. ‘I do not look at what he does well, but what he does badly. That’s just me.’
Keown counters: ‘I only ever shout “Well done”. I’m a strong believer in allowing the kids to play and parents should know their place. As a former footballer I also have to step back and know my place.
‘I had the other side with my own dad. If I scored five goals, he would say I should have scored six.’
Ince adds: ‘It was so easy for Thomas when he was very young that I just used to let him enjoy it. Then when it got serious, at about 16, I started having a right go at him – right in his face.
‘When I managed him it was difficult to get that balance between father and son, I’d be harsh on him and he’d say things back he wouldn’t to another manager.
‘But now we’ll sit down and go through the DVD and talk about things. I think that’s the best way.’
Ince, of course, is still some way from emulating the achievements of his father, as are Hagi, Kluivert and Zidane.
But if they ever do, it won’t just be YouTube we’ll be watching them on.
Culled from DailyMail
