Barca Sign 14 year old Argentine

Barcelona have apparently signed a 14 year old from Argentina named Mauro Icardi. According to Goal.com, he is a striker that has had various trials with several big name clubs over the last year before finnally deciding to sign with Barca's youth set up. I find it amazing that these clubs will search the world for talent. I'm a young guy, so I wasn't really around when clubs primarilly had players from their city or town, but signing a 14 year old and moving him all the way accross the world seems a bit excessive don't ya think?