Player Report: Paulo Henrique Ganso

GANSO, linked regularly with Milan, recently played a league game in Brazil that Rossoneri Blog writer, Tony Scerra, was able to watch in person.

This past Saturday, I was in Goiania, Brazil and had the opportunity to see Santos play Atlético Goianiense. Most everyone, especially the teenage girls, were watching Neymar and hoping for something spectacular.

I, however, had my eyes on one person, Ganso. Even when the ball was in Santos’s end of the field, I watched Ganso to see his positioning and how he reacted to different situations. With Milan as one of the favorites to snatch the highly rated trequartista, I decided to write this post to give a preview to fans that may not know much about Ganso.

Montolivo ultimatum
Cassano for Borriello?

First off, I have to say that after watching this game, I truly think that our Mr. X should be Ganso. With his vision and passing ability, he would be dishing out assist after assist to Ibra and Pato. Best-case scenario in my opinion would be either Montolivo or Aquilani in this transfer window then Ganso after he plays in the Club World Club with Santos.

Now, onto Ganso’s on field characteristics. He plays very simple. You won’t see him take 3 or 4 touches on the ball very often. He knows where he will play the ball before he receives it. His strongest attributes are his field vision and his field awareness. The ball switches the field in 2 touches when he gets it. He has both the possession mindset and the killer pass ability. Seeing him with Zlatan and Pato would just be unfair. His passing is truly a joy to watch. If people make runs, he will get them the ball. The connections he made with Neymar were very easy on the eyes. Whether its switching the field in 2 touches or playing that through ball behind the defense, Ganso had the technique and creativity to make goal scoring opportunities out of nothing.

One characteristic of his that surprised me was his physical stature. He’s very tall. His heading ability seemed to be above average as he rose and won headballs on 2-3 corners (both defensively and offensively). He didn’t seem to be very aggressive, but my Brazilian friend told me that he has been a little timid since he blew out his knee about a year ago.

Let me clear up one misunderstanding, Ganso is not Kaka. Kaka could dazzle us with a 70 yard run where he dribbles by 5 defenders and slots the ball into the back of the net. Ganso does not have the speed of Kaka. When you’re watching him, he seems like he is not trying (this may be because 1 day before the game, he flew in from Germany after international duty with Brazil). He is deceptively crafty, and uses his long body very well to buy extra time on the ball waiting for runs to develop.

It would not be fair to my readers if I did not go into the negatives about Ganso. His #1 weakness is his work rate. For a significant portion of the game he spent walking or jogging (particularly when Santos was being countered). This hurt Santos on the defensive end, but also on the offensive end. Magic was created when the ball is on his foot, but he did not have the ball as much as a player of his skills should have. Another area that needs improving is his defensive mindset. More often than not he was standing at the midfield/center center area and waited until his team won the ball back instead of helping his teammates win it back.

Now these areas of limitation for Ganso are very correctable issues. The trequartista in Allegri’s system is designed to help out on the defensive end. He doesn’t have to tackle like Van Bommel but more so needs to make life difficult for the opposing team so that our bulldog midfield can win it and begin the counter.

Ganso would slot perfectly into Allegri’s midfield as a pass-first trequartista. Assists would be scattered like there were when Ronaldinho roamed the left wing at the San Siro, The classic #10. Milan is missing the creative piece to connect the midfield to the attack. Ganso would not only fill this void, but with the experience he has already gained as a starter for the Brazilian Seleccao at only 21 years of age, he would put Milan in serious contention for every competition they enter, including the Champion’s League.

Follow Tony on Twitter – @GordonSoccer21