Team of Tomorrow Tuesday: Pélé

When I evaluated the selection of talent before Big Philly Style put out his list of twenty three men for the Euro, I gave serious thought to midfielder and U20/1 capped Pélé.

I considered him, I evaluated his form and the results at Inter Milan ever since he stepped in for a number of injured superstars in their central midfield and saw a boy becoming a man. Therefore, I threw him into the midfield, confident that he’d do a better job than Petit as a sub for either Deco or Miguel Veloso. However, Big Phil didn’t take my brilliant advice and he kept the off-form (albeit more experienced) Petit instead of taking a chance on a kid who’s been showing us scintillating stuff on the boot, all while having been an integral part of Inter’s run in to their third consecutive Scudetto.

To go from the bench at then Liga Vitalis (or Liga da Honra) Vitória Guimarães (who have since catapulted themselves into a Champions League spot finishing 3rd this past year in the bwinLiga) to the center of Inter’s midfield in little over a year says a lot about the kid’s make up. He’s probably going to be a stalwart of the Nerazzurri midfield for some time, and we should see him on the senior level featuring for the Selecção before too long as well.

The video below shows his goal in the Italian Cup vs Lazio. Understandably, video of him is rather limited in availability so we’ll have to make due with what we’ve got…