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Worth a punt? Off The Ball get the lowdown on Chelsea-bound Alexandre Pato

There was a time when Alexandre Pato was one of the best young players in the world. But lately t...



Worth a punt? Off The Ball get...
Soccer

Worth a punt? Off The Ball get the lowdown on Chelsea-bound Alexandre Pato

There was a time when Alexandre Pato was one of the best young players in the world.

But lately the former AC Milan superstar has disappeared off the scene to a degree as a result of regular injuries, which has seen him spend the last couple of seasons back in Brazil with Corinthians and Sao Paulo.

As a loan deal to Chelsea comes to fruition, is the 26-year-old worth taking a chance on?

BBC South American football expert Tim Vickery joined Off The Ball to chart where the player is at this point in his career as he ties up a Stamford Bridge move.

He highlighted how some argue that Milan's efforts to strengthen his upper body may not have had a positive effect on his later injury profile.

And he also touched on how he appears to be "a classic case of a phenomenon known to those in youth development work in Brazil called delayed adolescence" in the off the field sense as he "went off the rails".

"But at 26, the signs are that delayed adolescence has come to an end and I think he's probably worth a punt. I don't know exactly how he's going to fit in at Chelsea but I think he's worth a punt, especially as it seems to me Chelsea have been playing a ruthless game of transfer deadline poker, getting that fee or the terms of the loan deal so low that it really doesn't matter if he doesn't come off," said Tim.

 

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