Independiente del Valle's coaching staff initially found the numbers hard to believe. Pre-season training had begun and senior players were being outshone by a 17-year-old whose physical output was off the charts. Piero Hincapie had arrived.

"He was breaking the GPS data every single day," Miguel Angel Ramirez, the club's former manager, and the man who gave Hincapie his professional debut, tells Sky Sports with a chuckle. "Speed, sprints, accelerations, high-intensity actions…"

Hincapie's natural gifts had earned him promotion to the senior squad ahead of even Chelsea's Moises Caicedo or Paris Saint-Germain centre-back Willian Pacho, both of whom were in the age group above his in the Ecuadorian club's academy.

"Piero was more ready," says Ramirez, who had previously acted as the club's academy director. "He was amazing physically, a beast, much better than any professional in the first-team. He was really impressive technically and tactically as well."

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Hincapie is now showcasing the same blend of qualities...