Frank FABRA

On the outskirts of Medellin, the Envigado club are known for the excellence of their youth development work. And a couple of years after they sold James Rodriguez to Argentina, they unleashed another leftfooter who would later be heading south, with the quick and dynamic full-back Fabra enjoying a fine first campaign with Boca.

In retrospect, it seems strange that he stayed with Envigado from his 2010 debut until 2014 – at which point his career picked up momentum with successful spells at both Deportivo Cali and Medellin, as well as international honours.

The recent Copa America semi-final against Chile perhaps underlined the point that he is not the greatest defensive left-back in the world, but with his speed and stamina, his capacity to link up with the attack has been well used by Boca.

He was perhaps the key man in the quarter-finals against Nacional of Uruguay, providing the width to get round an opposing back four that liked to remain close together.

At 25, time is maybe not on his side, but if Boca can tighten up his defending he may yet follow Rodriguez across the Atlantic.