The good, the bad and the f***ing terrible!
THE BEST
5. Elano (Man City)
Playmaker who wowed the Man City for two seasons, scoring quality goals and collecting assists with alarming regularity. He was one of the club’s opening ‘marquee’ signings brought in from Shakhtar Donestk in an £8m deal.
Scored 18 goals in 80 appearances before moving to Turkey.
4. Rafael (Man United)
Young full-back is really coming into his own this term, making the right-back slot his own.
Still just 22 and already has 118 Man United appearances to his name. Great at getting forward and solid defensively
3. Ramires (Chelsea)
Former Benfica man has taken well to life in the Premier League, his surging runs from midfield already a trademark of his game.
The tough tackling box to box performer was key to Chelsea’s maiden Champions League triumph last term.
2. Gilberto Silva (Arsenal)
Arguably a player Arsene Wenger should tried hard to keep hold of the industrious central midfielder was always full of running whilst in an Arsenal shirt and is a player who saw success at Panathinaikos following his Gunners exit.
Made 234 appearances for the North London club and was a key member of the ‘Invincibles’ in 2003/04.
1. Juninho (Middlesbrough)
Made a surprise move to Middlesbrough and became a cult hero. No one could have predicted that the pint sized attacking midfielder would make such an impact at the Riverside but he is almost certainly the best Brazilian to have plied his trade in the English top tier.
Spent three spells at Boro, making 155 appearances and scoring 34 goals in the process. He also made the club a fair bit of money having been purchased for £4.7m in his initial spell and sold on to Atletico Madrid for £12m two years later.
THE WORST
5. Jo (Man City/Everton)
Jo had no problem scoring goals in Russia, in the Premier League however he was a complete flop.
Man City paid a whopping £19m for the CSKA Moscow man, a club record at the time, Jo went on to score one goals in 21 Premier League appearances. Did slightly better with Everton during a loan spell before he moved back to Brazil.
4. Kleberson (Man United)
When Man United fans are asked to consider the worse signings Sir Alex Ferguson has made in his Old Trafford tenure Kleberson usually makes the grade.
Cost the club £6.5m and was supposedly a replacement for Juan Sebastian Veron, it’s safe to say he was a complete disaster of a signing.
3. Heurelho Gomes (Tottenham)
Brazilian keepers are not usually all that sound and Heurelho Gomes has proved that this is not just a stereotypical assessment.
The former PSV Eindhoven man was hard to beat in the Dutch Eredivisie but in the Premier League he has been found wanting again and again. Currently on loan at Hoffenheim who are of course now doomed for the drop.
2. Afonso Alves (Middlesbrough)
It’s only fitting that having brought in one of the big Brazilian success stories to the Premier League that Middlesbrough should look to counteract this with the signing of a player who was never going to cut it in the English top tier.
Boro owner Steve Gibson elected to spent around £12m for Alves on the back of 18 months of non-stop scoring in the Eredivisie but that was always going to be money wasted.
On paper Alves goal-scoring record does’t look all that bad but he was part of the Boro side that got relegated and his tally of 10 goals in 41 matches covers a multitude of sins.
1. Andre Santos (Arsenal)
Piers Morgan has dubbed the Brazilian wide-man as the worst player to have ever played for Arsenal but whilst that may be a tad over the top there is no denying he is the worst Brazilian to play in the Premier League.
It’s something of a major failing for a professional footballer to be unable to tackle, unable to cross and to be woefully short of any positional sense but Santos manages to possess these attributes. The signing of Nacho Monreal on transfer deadline-day may well prove to be the death knell for the former Fenerbahce man’s Arsenal career.