The new young star that rose on the world football horizon is Bulgaria's Nikolay Mihaylov. He made his greatest breakthrough by signing a contract with England's giant Liverpool earlier this week.

Mihaylov, 19, started his career at Levski Sofia, for whom he has already played in 13 matches, with his debut coming when he was still a month short of his 17th birthday.

He was hailed early in his career as a dead cert future national team goalkeeper, where he would follow in the footsteps of his father Borislav and grandfather Bisser.

But his poor performances in the last season made him a figure of ridicule among Levski fans, who accused his father, now head of the Bulgarian Football Union, of nepotism.

His worst moment in a Levski shirt came in a Champions League game against Werder, when he failed to control a back-pass from a defender and turned the ball into his own net, then letting in two more goals in the space of five minutes.

He ended the season as Levski's third-string goalkeeper after falling out with manager Stanimir Stoilov over his flashy lifestyle and was reported to have signed a deal with Italian Serie A club Fiorentina.

Mihaylov won fame of being a playboy after reporters managed to catch him "red-handed", demonstrating highly frivolous behaviour while having fun in a nightclub in downtown Sofia. Because of those blunders, the player was fined and imposed a ban, missing several games for the team of Levski.

Mihaylov's hobby is obviously changing his hairstyle.

"I do it quite often because of my own comfort. The women have nothing to do with that," the footballer says jokingly.

As to his intimate life, he was claimed to have a relationship with the daughter of another famous Bulgarian football legend - Nasko Sirakov.

"That is crap. We are just friends," Mihaylov comments, confessing to have been seriously bound to the top model Snezhina Valkova.

The young player now realizes the responsible task he has to complete - helping one of the giants on the European football stage. He promised to work really hard in order to confirm the fact that Bulgaria's sportsmen are among the best ones all around the world.

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