Manchester United's Samba Future

Manchester United announced recently that Brazilian youngter Rodrigo Possebon signed for the club in the January transfer window in a move that somehow managed to sneak under the radar of all the major football media. The story has taken many Manchester United fan sites (one example post here) and message boards by storm since it was released on the club’s official website. In this wired age, it’s somewhat miraculous that it went undetected but here’s what I have been able to find out about Possebon.

Rodrigo Possebon was under contract with Sport Club Internacional but had not broken into the first-team as of yet. The 18-year-old midfielder is described as an archetypal box-to-box midfielder — elegant and composed in possession but full of energy. He is seen as having the potential of being an excellent holding midfielder and with his size, pace and reading of the game.

No terms of the deal were revealed, but United are believe to have paid in the region of 3.5m Euros for the player they have reportedly been tracking for the better part of two years ever since he first came to their attention during a Nike youth tournament.

With United’s central midfield currently full, I would not expect him to play a role in the first-team for the remainder of this season. Though he is eligible to join the senior squad, he will train and develop with United’s Reserve team. He made his debut for the Reds’ Reserves, coming on for just over half an hour, in a 2-0 Manchester Senior Cup win over Manchester City on February 7th.

Possebon’s path to Old Trafford was greatly facilitated by his father’s Italian heritage, giving the youngster an Italian passport and negating the need for a work permit. Possebon’s signing takes the number of Brazilians at the club to four with Anderson and another pair of teenage compatriots Fabio and Rafael also joining from Fluminese last month. Does this spell the start of a recruitment trend at Old Trafford?