This week saw the unveiling of Manchester United’s first new signings ahead of the 2012/13 season. Whilst Sir Alex stood their proudly, flanked by Japanese starlet Shinji Kagawa and a midfielder for the future in Nick Powell; rumour is afoot that a hat-trick of signatures is set to be completed in the near future.
If newspaper talk is to be believed, then as we speak Manchester United’s Chief Scout Jim Lawlor and Club Secretary John Alexander are in Sao Paulo vying for the much sought after signature of 19 year old Brazilian winger Lucas Moura. Reported to being chased by not only the Red Devils but Chelsea and Inter Milan amongst others, this race is set to hot up over the next few days. (Source: Daily Mail)
As it stands Inter Milan have had a £20m offer rejected where as Sao Paulo claim they have rejected a £32m bid from Chelsea, although that still remains unofficial. If the deal was to go through Lucas Moura would join a list of players United have delved deep into South American football to find. (Source: Daily Mail)
Since the flops of Diego Forlan and Kleberson, along with the unfortunate extinguishing of the fire that is Rodrigo Possebon (a player who was tipped to light up the Manchester United midfield for future years and decades), Sir Alex Ferguson and his scouts have come away from South America with hidden treasures untouched by the rest of the footballing world.
The story of the the South American treasure hunt starts all the way back in 2005, however not in South America. In Hong Kong, at the 2005 Nike Premier Cup; where youth teams from all over the world come to play and this is where Manchester United scout Les Kershaw stumbled upon two players. Two identical players. Twins Rafael and Fabio Da Silva, at the tender age of 15 were on the top of the list for Kershaw’s report to Ferguson as players United need to buy. Two years later after being invited to Carrington for training sessions, Manchester United and Fluminense agreed a deal which saw both Rafael and Fabio sign to be future Manchester United players.
United had to wait until the summer of 08′ for their Samba Siblings to officially become Manchester United players, but the wait was worth it. Now in 2012, Rafael & Fabio have shown enough ability and prowess to make people believe they have the potential to be World Class full backs. Rafael has had the opportunity to showcase his talents, no fault of Fabio but the fault of Patrice Evra, unfortunately for Fabio his left-back rival is the man who has consistently been one of the best left-backs in the world and has played pretty much every league game since Fabio’s arrival.
The next and most recent South American discovery takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico in the year 2009. The birthplace and team where the next gem was about to be discovered by John Calvert-Toulmin and the rest of the Manchester United South American scouting team. United wanted to initially take their time over this deal but when a then 21 year old Javier Hernandez was called up to the Mexico squad for the World Cup Finals in South Africa the following year. This forced United’s hand, so to avoid being trumped by other clubs Jim Lawlor along with a club solicitor were sent to watch and secure the signing of the man named Chicharito.
On 8th April 2010 it was announced ahead of the World Cup that Manchester United have signed Javier Hernandez and he will officially be a Manchester United player on 1st July that year. Two years on Hernandez, now 24 has scored an impressive 23 goals in 55 over two seasons for the Red Devils. With time and ability on his side Hernandez looks to be in Manchester United’s front line at the highest level for many years to come.
That brings an end to the short look back into Sir Alex Ferguson’s South American odyssey but when it has bought him players like the Da Silva twins and Hernandez, Lucas Moura will only be another gem added to Manchester United’s South American crown.
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