The Transfer Muppet: Paulo Henrique Ganso
The 20 year old midfielder has been running riot in Brazil with Santos as he, Neymar and Robinho have helped Santos to 100+ goals in the 2010 calendar year alone. But whilst Neymar and Robinho arguably are gaining more of the spotlight, it is Ganso (The Swan) who is pulling the string and making this possible.
When Man City allowed Robinho to join Santos in January they attempted to include a clause in the deal that allowed them to get first option on both Ganso and Neymar. Robinho warned Neymar about joining Citeh whilst Ganso himself had the sense to see the folly saying, and
“I don’t want to play for Manchester City. I’d prefer to play for a big club in Europe such as Milan [presumably AC], Real Madrid or Barcelona”
I like this guy already!
Linked with him by The Mirror, if we are infact looking at him we face stiff competition as the likes of Bayern Munich, Juventus and both Milan clubs have all been monitoring him
Jon Cotteril the Sao Paulo based Englishman who runs pitacodogringo.wordpress.com said of Ganso and Santos,
Paulo Henrique is the man who really pulls the strings… The 20-year-old has not yet acquired Kaká’s drive or physical presence, but his touch, range of passes, and vision have been behind so many of Santos’ astonishing haul of 100 goals in 2010.
There was a cry for him to be included in Brazil’s World Cup squad lead by Robinho himself and Dunga answered by including him in the 30 man provisional squad. It is unlikely Henrique will make the 23 man squad due to Dunga’s penchant for defensive midfielders but it speaks volumes for him that people including his fellow players petitioned his inclusion in the team.
Santos are no fools and realise the star they have on their hands so they have slapped a whopping €50m price tag on the wonder kid although it is very unlikely that when Ganso does finally leave he will go for that price.