Waiting for the Duck

Oh to be 18 years old, have never played a game for your club and to have your coach say that you are already better than one of the legends of the game. We’ve all witnessed the hype around young players before only to be disappointed but that doesn’t mean we won’t get sucked in by it again and that we won’t pay a little extra attention come January when the Brazilian playmaker Alexandre Pato makes his debut for AC Milan.

There were a number of teams that were trying to land the Duck during the summer transfer window and it was AC Milan who got him to sign his name on the dotted line. Because of EU restrictions he hasn’t been able to play in any competitive matches, but he has trained with the club and that alone has made an impression on Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“Pato is better than Ronaldinho,” he told Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Our new signing is a phenomenon. And with him I can maybe return to a formation with two strikers.”

What a great way for a manager to take the pressure off his young player. If Pato isn’t the second coming of Christ, I will be disappointed. Well, not really. But I am eager to see whether or not he will join the list of great young players playing football these days.

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Category: Serie A, World Football