Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
First there was Neymar who every top European side was linked with, now there’s a new young Brazilian sensation on the scene linked with moves to the crème de la crème of Europe. His name is Lucas Moura.
Lucas plays for Sao Paulo and has 15 senior caps for Brazil and is a shoe-in according to fans of South American football to be included in Brazil’s 23-man World Cup squad in 2014 in two years time.
Lucas may not be a player most European fans will know too much about but he is due to play in the Olympics having been named in Brazil’s 18-man squad and could very well feature in a friendly against Stuart Pearce’s Great Britain side at Middlesbrough’s Riverside stadium in a fortnight.
So what do we know about Lucas?
Well he’s a wide attacker who’s quick and has an eye for goal. Pretty much sums up the standard young Brazilian player doesn’t it?
Lucas as you’re see in this video above is skilful (that’s an understatement) and certainly is a player who Europe’s top clubs should be looking at. Clearly the boy has talent but does that mean United or Real Madrid or Inter Milan for that matter should spend the best part of £30m for his services?
The answer to that question at this current time is probably no. But in order to get great players or even good one’s who have the potential to be great, 9 times out of 10 you have to spend big to get them.
And this is rightfully so, after all if the buying club believes the player is going to be a world-class player (either in the short-term or long-term) then the selling club has every right to hold out for a big fee that matches a world-class player’s value. That makes perfect sense.
Whilst there’s no doubt that Lucas is certainly one for the future, the question that Manchester United fans are asking themselves is why would we be interested in signing a winger when it’s quite clear that we are in need of reinforcements in the middle of midfield?
After all with doubts as to whether Darren Fletcher can return from his illness and question-marks over whether Anderson can truly live up to his promise, surely a defensive-minded midfielder is needed more than a winger? Then again perhaps one has already been lined up.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
Surely its better to identify quality talent and buy them as they become available. As much as we do need a creative centre midfielder its obviously important that we buy one that is better than the ones we've got and they are not exactly two-a-penny. Liverpool made the mistake of replacing Torres on the quick and look at the result. Its sounds like we're trying to compete for the ones that are available but so are Madrid, Barcelona, City, Inter and Chelsea. Gone are the days of out-buying the rest.