The recent Brazilian invasion in the Premier League is one that many a football fan will have been expecting for some time now.
With the Premier League’s reputation as being “the best league in the world” and the amount of money that it has been pumped into it through television rights, sponsorship and global marketing opportunities, it is no surprise that we’re now seeing players from arguably the most exciting footballing country flock in their droves to try a piece of the Premier League pie.
But what exactly is it that attracts the Brazilian stars to England and why is only now that we are being privileged enough to be graced with their presence? And is it going to spark a change in the way football is played in the Premier League?
For years we’ve seen Brazil’s most exciting players opt to play in Spain and Italy instead of England, with some of the biggest names to ever come out of the country, like Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho for example, making names for themselves at the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan.
But now the Premier League boasts the likes of Oscar, Paulinho, Ramires, Willian and Fernandinho, all of which have performed on the biggest stage for Brazil and are all but nailed on to represent them at the World Cup next summer.
Brazilian footballers aren’t just motivated by money (unlike some players from other countrys), though, which many people may be fooled in to believing during this period of ‘Brazilian Boom’ in the Premier League. The prospect of playing in the Champions League is something every Brazilian footballer is unlikely to turn their nose up at. Putting last season aside, English clubs have enjoyed a period of great success in Europe’s most prestigious competition, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal regularly progressing to at least the last eight almost each year.
The style of football played in the Premier League is something that we can expect to change over the coming years, possibly down to the increased arrival of Brazil’s most naturally gifted and skilful players. Oscar, for example, can be a joy to watch when he’s at his best, and you can see the natural Brazilian flair he has rubbing off on his Chelsea colleagues.
When Willian gets properly settled in the Premier League – his goal against Norwich over the weekend suggests that’ll be sooner rather than later – his influence on the style of football we see in the Premier League will be begin to take shape too.
However, the types of footballers coming out of Brazil are also changing. Box-to-box midfielders like Sandro and Paulinho have the physique that makes them perfect for Premier League football as well. Their no-nonsense, midfield general type personas are what we are already used to seeing here in England.
What the Premier League currently lacks, though, is a true Brazilian superstar. We haven’t had one yet, have we? Perhaps Robinho was meant to be that superstar when he rocked up at Manchester City on transfer deadline day in the summer of 2008.
But, despite him clearly bringing the Brazilian style of play and its philosophy to English soil, arguably one of the first to do so at such a level since Juninho at Middlesbrough, his formed dipped and he ended up leaving for Italy two years later, via a short loan spell in Brazil with Santos.
The changing face of English football at present, with the Premier League being more global than ever, means it is becoming more and more a viable prospect for Brazil’s samba stars in which to come and ply their trade, despite them having to suffer sub-zero temperature winter for most of the season. A snowy night in Sunderland will never beat a warm, humid night in Rio.
The creative, skilful, free-flowing football Brazilian footballers are famous for is slowly sneaking in to the Premier League and that’s something every football fan should be excited about. We all long for the day when the long-ball is banished and replaced with a short, slick pass-and-move style, and that day may arrive sooner than we think.