The championship, second English division, is about to accommodate a new face whose name already resonates as a symbol. Hull City, ambitious championship boarder, has formalized a surprise reinforcement that makes a big splash: a unique pedigree player, used to wearing as glorious as weighing.
Ronaldinho's son in Tigers
It is Joao Mendes, son of Ronaldinho, who joins the tigers after a shortened experience in Burnley. The 20 -year -old striker, trained in Brazil and then passed through Barcelona, arrives free to strengthen the U21 team from Hull, with the ambition of making a place in the professional workforce. By this transfer, he is about to achieve what his father has never been able to accomplish: evolving in England. Ronaldinho, despite some approaches to English clubs at the top of his career, never had the opportunity to work on the lawns of the Premier League.
Mendes has never hidden his desire to trace his own path, far from the overwhelming shadow of his father. “I want to be Joao, not Ronaldinho bis”,
he said recently. In Burnley, he showed lightning of talent with a goal and two assists in the Premier League Cup, but without managing to impose itself sustainably. Hull offers him a new chance, in an environment where media pressure will be less, but where the physical and tactical challenge of English football remains formidable.
Hull City, a particular soil
This choice is not trivial: Hull City is recognized for its dynamic academy and its opening to atypical profiles. Mendes will join a project that trusts youth, in a club where local passion pushes young people to outdo themselves. Ironically, he will meet another famous heir in the ranks of Tigers: the son of Lakhdar Belloumi, 1981 African Ballon, which is already playing in club teams.
If the signature of Joao Mendes in Championship does not make the headlines like that of a star in the Premier League, it arouses a particular craze. For him, this is an opportunity to finally write his own story, with a rough and demanding English football. For Hull City, it is a bet on the name and especially on the potential. As for the supporters, they will undoubtedly savor this wink of destiny: see the sons of Ronaldinho and Belloumi gathered under the same jersey, in search of light.
