Manchester United and AC Milan target, Paulo Henrique Ganso of Brazilian side Santos is a typical "Brazilian play-maker". We are constantly informed of the latest prodigy, often from South America, who will develop into the next global footballing superstar. Players have been and gone, labelled as the next best thing, and under the heavy weight of expectation, withered and faded into a footballing abyss.Perhaps Ganso could be the player to break that mould, and make something of himself in English football, or at least in Europe. He certainly has the ability to be the player to replace Paul Scholes at Manchester United, and at the age of 21 has plenty of time to develop, however, with this quality, must be caution, especially when it comes to Manchester United and Brazilians.
The first Brazilian to join United was Kleberson. Remember him? He was labelled as "ideal" for the Premier League - a real talent, with the ability to play all over the midfield. Sir Alex Ferguson said he was "delighted" to have signed him after an impressive World Cup in 2002, for £6 million. 30 games, 2 goals and a torrid time in England later, Kleberson was sold for £2.5 million.
Manchester United will be hoping that if Ganso signs, which isn't entirely likely considering his dream is to join AC Milan, he will not suffer the same fate as Kleberson did, and to be honest, I shouldn't think he would, because this young man has the talent and the confidence to fulfil his potential.
He is good in possession, can find the killer pass, and has the ability to make that pass to create goals for the men around him. A good play-maker reads the game, finds the positions to make space for himself and his team-mates and finds them with varying and unpredictable passes, making it harder for the opposition to read the play. They also have the creative spark and the awareness to make runs to score a decent amount of goals for themselves.
Ganso, in the main has that, and that is probably why he has been heralded as the "next Kaka". That would of course suit AC Milan perfectly, who sold the "real" Kaka in 2009 to Real Madrid, but it would also suit Manchester United, who actually enquired about Kaka's services when he was a Milan player, with rumours of a £50 million bid being prepared at one point.
Ganso also comes with his weaknesses or ugly side believe it or not. He has had two major injury problems so far in his short career, which left him out of action for six months each. As a Brazilian, along with the cheeky skills of flicking balls over the opponents clueless head and countless mesmerising step-overs, he also has the knack of doing something that I would find hard to watch.
Regular readers will know that I, like most others, hate with a passion when a player falls over clutching their face, and writhes around on the floor in apparent agony when in fact they were simply brushed in a clearly fair challenge. Coupled with the super energetic finger that wags furious when a decision goes against him, and it is straight away a trait I would rebuke in the Premier League.
However, if his star quality outshines the latter mentioned possible problems, I would be pleased to see him grace Europe with his vision, passing and control. I would of course be delighted to see him bloom into the "new Kaka" in European football so that one day we may find another similarly outstanding player and be able to label him the "new Ganso". United and AC Milan will have to pay at least £25 million for their man however, who has a contract until 2015 as well as a £44 million release clause.
