“Elano is a world class player,” says his coach at Manchester City Sven Goran Eriksson, “and when you are looking for someone to do something special in the last third of the field, he is the man.”
It is a verdict that will be shared by many at the City of Manchester stadium. But it might come as a shock to those connected with Ukrainian club Shaktar Donetsk, where the Brazilian was frequently left on the substitutes bench. It would also come as a surprise to many in Brazil; although Elano is a regular member of the national squad he has usually been seen as a useful and unselfish team player rather that a star. In fact, one of the reasons he left Guarani, his first club, was that he was not being selected for the first team.
But those who played alongside him had a clearer idea of Elano‘s future. “There might have been the odd coach who couldn’t see it, but the other lads and I were aware of Elano’s quality and potential,” says Rafael, who developed with him through the youth ranks at Guarani, in the city of Campinas, around 100 km north of Sao Paulo. “He’s one of the most tactically complete players I’ve ever seen, well capable of carrying out a number of functions in the team. He can play at right back, can mark or create in midfield and can operate as a striker. It could be that he’s suffered in his career as a result of his versatility, that at times he’s been moved around without having a fixed place in the side.”
“Now I see that in England he’s playing a freer role,” says Rafael, currently right back with Fluminense of Rio de Janeiro, whose career has taken in other leading Brazilian clubs Vasco da Gama, Sao Paulo and Flamengo as well as Messina in Italy. “I’m watching his games on TV and cheering him on, because as well as being a top player he’s also a terrific person.”
“We’ve known each other since I was 15 and he was 14. In those days we didn’t have any money - no cars or even cash to travel around by bus. So his dad used to come and watch us and after the games we’d go back to his house, which was about 40 km away, and we’d have barbecues - that was our entertainment. They were happy times that we miss, and remember with affection every time we meet up.
“He was always quite shy, a small town boy from a humble family. But once he gets to know you and opens up he can be great fun. There was a nickname that he absolutely hated - ET (after an extremely ugly Brazilian comedian who bears a resemblance to the alien character in the Steven Spielberg film). The first time I called him ET he didn’t speak to us for a week. And obviously, the more angry he got the more we did it. When we called him ET in front of the girls he wanted to die! But nowadays when we meet up if I call him ET he just laughs about it.”
Manchester City supporters can also enjoy the joke. It merely confirms the suspicions that the player in their number 11 shirt really is from a different planet.
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