The Reality About Ganso And Why He Is Evidently Zidane's True Heir

Bottom line is, to be frank, people who think Ganso ain't even close to Zidane, haven't watched Zidane play (at least not properly).

To me, the best player ever is Paolo Maldini because I know what I saw, I'm aware of his fantastic technical, physical, mental qualities and the unspeakable influence he had on fellow teammates on and off the pitch, which was somewhat metaphysical, I can say.

Remind me of Maradona, Pele, Cruijf or whoever, yes I have heard of them and watched clips of their genius, but I haven't actually seen them play before my eyes in live games, I wasn't born yet.
But I saw Captain PM3 and I know what I saw.


Now there are people who try to draw an untouchable image of Zidane.

The most skilled (along with Ronaldinho), silky-touched, smooth-moving, splendid Footballer ever is Zinedine Zidane, no doubt about that.

I watched the legend in the final against Brazil in 1998 and never stopped following him i.e. being in awe and love of his mercurial style of play up until July 2006.

But Zidane wasn't a player who was involved in his teams' play for 90 straight minutes, like Gattuso.
He wasn't always running or even coolly dribbling past a bunch of defenders.

Damn it, Zidane didn't even play that well much of the time.

The unique thing about him was, at most crucial times, he entered the frame as if he was the unrivaled boss, made fun of his marker(s) and showed moments of sheer magic, moments that easily turned into sweet memories for his audience.

Sending an unbelievable killer pass, or launching a rocket of a shot after some pieces of rare tricks and one-off individual moves were the finale of his phenomenal yet short involvement in each game, but not always.


Now, back to Ganso's case.


People who haven't even watched Zidane, claim Ganso is nowhere near the old French wizard.

Why? Because they've "heard", only "heard" that Zidane was so good!
Because they don't know what they are watching in Ganso is already 70% as good as Zinedine.

He has the unique touch, the composure, the brain and the physique to be exactly like Zizou.

Ganso doesn't drift in and out of the games most of the time, because he usually doesn't even get involved to drift out.

But he is the reference point, he is "the man to pass to no matter you know or not what to do with the ball" as Deschamp labelled Zidane.

He receives the ball, figures out what to do and act in a matter of seconds.

Brazil have Neymar, Pato, Robinho, Maicon and many more dangerous weapons, but the most lethal of them all is the boy who can change the fate of a game in one single moment of brilliance.

Zidane was nothing but a promising youngster at 21, humbly plying his trade in Bordeaux until he was 24, though later went on to win the Ballon d'Or twice.
But Ganso is already the undisputed No.10 of the world's most talented, skillful side, and is on his way to one of Europe's top clubs.

Zidane debuted for an ordinary France at 22, Ganso at 20 for Brazil in presence of many champions.

Zidane never experienced terrible injuries in his 16-year career, but Ganso has already had both his knee ACLs operated on in a matter of two years and is still one of the best in his business.

I don't like to compare them too much, but I had to do that to prove some things, and I would defend this theory again if I have to, because disinformation is not ignorable.


Anyway, let's get to the Rossonero side of things.


Right now, there are three kinds of play-makers in world Football: The Kaka types, the Zidane types, and some rare cases like who are not easily defined.

The first group mix pace with creativity to drive their team forward as fast as they can, like Pastore.
The second group mix superior touch and control with composure to hold the ball until the right moment pops up to impose their influence on the game, like Ganso.

The third group consists of players who sometimes belong to the first and sometimes to the second group, therefore they belong to a separate category of their own. Ronaldinho was the perfect example of this rare kind, who are currently led by Iniesta.

It's time to choose what we want. But I got my preferences.

Ganso could well be our ticket to paradise, because we've lacked a true play-maker since Kaka started to decline in 2007-08.
Four years is a very long time in Football if you ask me. It's time we get a true No.10 finally.



Zidane was a one-off, but Ganso is the closest we've ever got all these years, and he is really close.

Ganso will be damn expensive

But damn he'll be good!

Zidane, Ganso and Ozil are all carved in the same mould. Ganso would be great for our team, Jesus Galliani get him!!!!!

Iras, how many games of Ganso have you seen to make this statement? Just asking, because I ve watched him only a bit.

I think its to early to hype him that much. He played in Brazil only and still needs to prove himself. What I am saying is that he can turn out a "Robinho"-immensely talented player with good NT reputation, but never to live up to the hype.

Ganso did not play attractive football with the national teams(he did show quite a few skills against Paraguay),but he has a vision of the game that only a few players in the world have,4 assists in 3 games say enough.Messi who is the best play-maker in the world only had 3 assists in 4 gameswith the likes of aguero,tevez,higuain etc around him.Imagine what Ganso couls do with Pato and Ibra in his front?

About the Zidane comparison,I do think they are very similar,too bad that as i said,he isnt doing many tricks and dribbles in CA.

Grande_Milano wrote:Iras, how many games of Ganso have you seen to make this statement? Just asking, because I ve watched him only a bit.

I think its to early to hype him that much. He played in Brazil only and still needs to prove himself. What I am saying is that he can turn out a "Robinho"-immensely talented player with good NT reputation, but never to live up to the hype.

I've watched all of his National team games and numerous highlights from Santos' matches, plus a few clips that focus on Ganso.

It certainly is early to say for sure, but I'm not that much out of my mind.

I'm judging on his way of playing, I've seen the way he elegantly jogs on the pitch and supervises his teammates, and is constantly monitoring the situation on other parts of the field to send the ball to the best place as soon as he is given the ball.

I'm sorry for saying this and nothing personal but, "He needs to prove himself in Europe" sounds too lame and cliched to me.

The Brazilian clubs are performing at a great level, and the fact that Ganso played so immensely well for Santos and later, against USA for Selecao means a lot.

USA, along with Ghana and Uruguay were the most likeable teams in the world cup, and if a team is likeable that means they are pretty good. So Ganso played against a top-class team and emerged victorious and individually successful.

The way I see things, Paulo Henrique is on his way right up there unless something weird happens.



P.S. Ozil is not in this category IMO, he is just a weakened version of Xavi with a very very low stamina and durability, one who could definitely do great things in the future, but he isn't that similar to Zizou or Ganso for that matter.

I hadn't seen much of ganso until this coppa. he also hasn't been doing much tricks or slick dribbling in the CA but he has shown good touches and very nice vision.

From what i've seen so far, i think he'd be successful at milan. He only needs to work on a few aspects of his game to become invincible

People should stop taking opinion out of context. No one says that ganso would be the best playmaker in the world, but the fact is that he is a carbon copy of zidane. The way he moves with the ball, passes, intelligence on the ball,vision,his magical moments e.t.c makes him the closet to zizou.

Off topic: i consider dinho as the only player who is unique on his own, and there is no player who has come close to his footballing style yet.
IMO, dinho is the most skillful footballer ever.

can't wait to see ganso in milan

Ganso is a kind of player that makes killer passes, and to do that you need chemistry, unfortunately you don't get it easily in National Teams because you have very short time training together with your teammates.
On clubs it's very different...

i have to agree wholeheartedly here. Ganso plays so much like Zidane it's not even funny. it's a joy to watch Ganso play in Zizou's magical style.

PedroBR wrote:Ganso is a kind of player that makes killer passes, and to do that you need chemistry, unfortunately you don't get it easily in National Teams because you have very short time training together with your teammates.
On clubs it's very different...

exactly

Kick wrote:

It looks obvious now but back in that time ( 2011 ) this post totally made sense

Hence the epic bump and laughter.

Ganso is still a boss!

I'm sure the doors to Ganso have been shut for while now

WHO NEEDS GANSO WHEN WE HAVE RICKY SAPO

ganso = overrated

WOW! Such a nice nice nice thing this "Magricos" guy did. No sarcasm.
It was great to see one of my posts after two years, and I was actually pretty good! HAHA!

At the same time, though, this is a sad post to read, don't you agree?
To remember what's happened to the world's best classic no.10 is so sad.

Jesus, why are some people so lucky? Messi plays 60 games a year, and unlucky bastards like Ganso and Pato have to be satisfied with 20. So sad.

On the post and the bump, I can't say my opinion has changed dramatically.

When Pato was 18, he was far better than the 18-year-old Neymar thru and thru, and yet, look where he ended up.

Pato and Ganso, both born in 1989, were such fantastic talents with the world at their feet not very long ago, but their legs betrayed them, and they picked up one injury after the other, over and over again.

I'm not sure the duo have the ability and the time to return to their levels any longer, but it would be nice to see them at the world cup at their best, isn't it?

Bottom line is, the "IrasMaldinista" who wrote this two years ago, had reasons (good ones, I think) to believe Ganso would go on to become the next Zidane, and he expressed them firmly.

I agree with him! But that's just me (and apparently RanDom!)...

sad when talents go to shit

It's not his fault that Santos wanted to sell him for so much. Anyway, he is still doing his thing with São Paulo in Brazil. It 'twas unfortunate that his body could not keep up with his greatness