Roger Gabriel - EC Bahia Academy product

[shroom]

Turns 17 yo in February. I brought this kid up in the Savio thread a while back - played for both City and Girona academies on trial - think he might need his own thread now - somewhere to dump info/clips. For instance ...

He assisted the winning goal in the dying seconds for the big club EC Bahia in a cup match last night. Sweet combo of moves to get the cross off on target ... and the fans go nutz. Think he'll be a full-fledged senior player this calendar year for Bahia. Been following him since the summer, seems like a good kid, family guy, happy guy, comfortable with the attention he gets, MF'er who worships Jude Bellingham. Gotta believe his future is in Europe, already on City's radar. It'll be interesting to learn what City/CFG do with these guys who have top career potential. Play for City? Earn money for City? Earn money for their home CFG club? Split the earnings between clubs?

 

[RayCTID]

Sledgehammer! (sorry wrong thread)

 

[Asa's left peg]

Couldn't find Bahia's own thread. I noticed that they are doing really well (early on in their season) after promotion, but do any of the South American contingent on here know if CFG have made any significant contributions to their improvement? Seems a bit early to claim that. Thanks.

 

[shroom]

Couldn't find Bahia's own thread. I noticed that they are doing really well (early on in their season) after promotion, but do any of the South American contingent on here know if CFG have made any significant contributions to their improvement? Seems a bit early to claim that. Thanks.

I do know that some Brazilian journo wrote a scathing indictment of the foul effects CFG's ownership is having on Brazilian football by lifting the club up financially. Sound familiar? So there must be some positive visible results to observers.

For myself, their social media seems very City-like and positive - an effort at culture change, positivity and hard work emphasized. The stadium experience I think has been upgraded - cheerleaders, fireworks, smoke machines, structural renovations. Their style of play is to press high and possess the ball, very City-like. I think the languid style of play Brazilians have is largely down to it being boiling hot and humid every freakin' second of their lives. So, a high-energy style of play is a very different thing in that league. I don't follow the roster ins and outs so can't tell you how the money has affected building the team talent base. Scanning twitter, there does seem to be buzz about their style of play, technical level and healthy financial situation - the seeds of FFP are sprouting in observers' heads seems like.

As for 17 yo Roger, they still treat him as a diamond but he isn't really getting mins with the big squad and is playing with their U20s, so I missed that prediction so far. gak

 

[Asa's left peg]

Thanks for your reply. It's interesting there is possibly the same type of backlash.