by azriahmad » Fri Sep 10, 2004 3:46 am
I don't know if any of you agree with me on this, but it seem that Brazillian offensive players had never enjoyed a lasting success over several seasons in the English game. i think the English game is too physical for them. Mirandinha was a moderate success at Newcastle only in the first season.
Juninho has been an exception, because he is not an out-and-out striker but a central midfielder with good ball skills, but he is not really a big success. The 2 real successes are Gilberto Silva (Arsenal paid only 5 million for him and he is perhaps the best defensive midfielder to have come out from South America in my opinion, better than Dunga as he can positively contribute to attack also unlike Dunga) and to a lesser extent, Edu. I say "lesser extent" because I have seen Gilberto Silva play much more than Edu and he does take a back seat and just sit back when Viera plays alongside him but recently, without Viera, he has been more involved in the attack and scored a couple.
What an underrated player, goes about doing a very "un-Brazillian" job consistently without much fuss.
because of this, I am inclined to agree with JBG that it is very unlikely. To buy a young striker at such a high price when they are very likely to struggle to adapt to the culture, the cold weather, the high tempo game and the very physical defenders is a bit too much of a risk. I don't think the fragile Ronaldo or Ronaldinho will be able to adapt well enough to the EPL.