Start them young. Most football clubs scout prospective players when they are as young as six, so there is no time to waste. If you are playing the long game, quash any burgeoning talents in the defending department and raise a little striker. Yes, football is a team game, but it is the goals scorers who get the glory.

If you are hoping your footballing prodigy might play for Arsenal one day, relocating the family to the immediate vicinity of the Emirates Stadium may not be the fast track you think. “Starting at one of these clubs at six and staying all the way through to 16 is a real anomaly,” says footballer turned agent Will (not his real name). That said, France has a knack for churning out top-tier players, thanks to its elite academy system, and there is one that is pretty much a conveyor belt to the big time. Settle down on the outskirts of Paris, get your kid into INF Clairefontaine and they’ll be dribbling in the footsteps of Messrs Thierry Henry, Mbappé and Nicolas Anelka.

Once you have your budding superstar in front of the right people, the real work begins. At a football academy, kids will do drills, play practice matches and compete in tournaments. At home, you can complement this with archive match replays in place of Paw Patrol. The teen years are tricky, and the temptations of going out are a potential distraction, but if they stay on course and have luck on their side, they will have been inducted into an academy full time by age 16.

An academy aims to set them up for their future pro career with carefully controlled performance-boosting diets, 30-plus hours a week of training and dictatorial club managers who outlaw chips and the internet. The spectre of injury is constantly looming, so redirecting some of the household budget to an at-home cryo chamber might be a wise investment.

Whether it is Germany’s Bundesliga or Italy’s Serie A, the big league is where prestige, global recognition and eyewatering salaries lie (an average of £60,000 a week in the Premier League). The target is Real Madrid, which regularly tops the rich list and is by far the most followed club on Instagram, although any club that makes it to the Uefa Champions League will do. The odds are not in your favour, however. According to the i newspaper, 97 per cent of those who go through the elite academy system in the UK will never play a Premier League game. Brutal.

There is still hope if your youngster doesn’t debut in the top flight. Their team could get promoted or, if they put in an exceptionally good show on the pitch, they could be scouted by another team. In the UK, Leicester City’s Mr Jamie Vardy (himself a Premier League latecomer) has set up the V9 Academy, a one-week bootcamp that offers non-league players the chance to show off their skills in front of scouts. Success often comes down to timing, so be open to course correction. “If you’re a left winger and Manchester United has five amazing left wingers who stick with the club, you’re never going to play for Manchester United,” Will says.

There are plenty of world-class players who deliver on the pitch week in, week out, but never quite attain superstardom. So, how to stand out from the crowd? Hammering in goals is a no-brainer and a call-up to the national team will increase their chances of becoming a household name. See South Korea’s “heart-throb” Mr Cho Gue-sung, who went from having 20,000 followers on Instagram to 2.5 million after a handful of World Cup games. Behind the scenes, the best managers will work to raise their players’ profile and get them in the media spotlight. (Maybe even land them a MR PORTER photoshoot, too.)

The former footballer Mr David Beckham has managed to straddle the worlds of sport and celebrity. “Before him, there had really been only a handful of footballing superstars who generated coverage outside the sports pages since George Best, and this was rarely for the right reasons,” says M&C Saatchi Sports and Entertainment strategy director Mr Neil Hopkins. “Beckham’s arrival, his willingness to embrace high fashion and his marriage to a Spice Girl, was a real example of what marketers call differentiators.” These days, a footballer’s marketability also comes down to “the values they represent”, says Hopkins. Take the Manchester City and England midfielder Mr Jack Grealish. His flair, looks and undeniable charm turned him into an overnight celebrity post-Euro 2020, but it’s his good deeds, such as raffling a shirt for the NHS and donating money to a local hospital, that have earned him widespread affection.

If you’ve played your cards right, the partnership offers should start rolling in. Don’t underestimate the importance of these off-the-pitch endeavours. Every player must hang up their boots eventually and you can’t dine out on that legendary free kick for ever. The hefty salary should stand them in good stead for retirement, granted you’ve helped them build a decent investment portfolio. But if you’re looking to raise a real megastar, you need to think about brand-building – and soon.

“Some players are really interested in what their brand looks like and some just want the endorsements that pay the most money,” Will says. “Grealish is a good example. He would probably be really particular about whom he wanted to work with because he’s thinking about his long-term brand.” Focusing on netting, and keeping, a handful of big deals (the Gucci ambassadorship, the Nike sneaker collaboration) will pay dividends in the long run. Either way, if things start to dry up, they can always have a crack at achieving icon status on the sidelines. Project Guardiola?