Are Brazilians taking over the Premier League?
Posted by Gringo Maclure in Arsenal, Brazil, Filipe Scolari, Geovanni, Gilberto, Hull City, Man City, Premiership, Robinho | 7 October 2008
There are 21 Brazilians playing in the Premier League with at least one in each of the major clubs. Mirandinha may have been the first to join Newcastle back in the 1980s but after money and foreigners started pouring into the Premier League in the mid-90s a host of the South American single-named wonders started to file in.
5,000 Brazilians play football for money in countries other than Brazil - it's a long-standing and self-fulfilling joke that any respectable team is not really respectable until they sign a Brazilian, irrespective of that player's actual quality. It's the history, the flare for the game, the trickery on the ball that create this impression. But being Brazilian doesn't necessarily ensure success in the British leagues. Several "flops" have featured only briefly in the Premier league - Julio Baptista being one. He once famously complained about the cold nights in Bolton where brutish defenders didn't allow him to play his "beautiful" game. Either that, or he was just missing traditional Brazilian beans.
The Sun recently published a list of the top ten Brazilians who've played in the Premiership. I found this out thanks to a Brazilian website that had picked up on it. Unsuprisingly, Juninho topped the list followed by Gilberto Silva. Robinho didn't make the grade as he's only just arrived. At number 10 featured a certain Geovanni.
This journeyman of Brazilian football has always flirted with greatness but never quite produced for club or country. But now, in the unlikely gold and black stripes of Hull City, he has already secured cult status - the scorer of Hull's first Premiership goal and, thanks to two goal-of-the- season contenders, the main reason Hull were able to raid an unlikely 6 points on their travels to north London. Surely, he's set to advance up the list beyond Alonso Alves at no.7? One things for sure - he's accomplished something already that Robinho can only dream of: scoring the winner in a Manchester derby.
The extra load of Brazilians in the Premiership has created unprecendeted interest back in Brazil as well. The EPL is avidly followed and news of Robinho's move to Manchester City sent shockwaves through the footballing public here. Scolari's presence is also of interest. I recently watched a lengthy TV interview conducted with him in Portuguese in which the Brazilian journalist firing the questions tried to coax Big Phil into commenting on whether he might return to managing the Brazilian national team. Scolari didn't rule it out, but his priority seems to be Chelsea for now.
It seems to me only a matter of time before EPL clubs start doing pre-season tours in the emerging markets of South America. Goodness knows, they would be well recieved if they did.
The influx of Brazilians to the Premier League is also having an unlikely effect on British employment in one or two sectors. Not only are black beans imports on the up but English teachers who speak Brazilian Portugese are suddenly in high demand. This applies to myself (although I live in Brazil) and some friends of mine based in the UK, two of whom are already involved at Chelsea teaching the irregular past tenses to players, their families and the coaching staff. From time to time I get an email with a vocab list to translate. As an Arsenal fan, it's very tempting to send back some potentially confusing and misguided details of football lexis in the hope that it might sabatoge the Blues...
So, raise your "caiprinhas" to the Brazilians in the Premiership, and long may we see them bring the beautiful game to England's shores.
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