If we had told the players or fans of Girona that after eleven days of La Liga they would be at the top of the table with Real Madrid, ahead of Barça and Atlético, it is a safe bet that many of them would have burst into laughter. And yet, as we approach the end of the first third of the season, the Catalan team is holding on. And it doesn’t just win, since Michel’s style of play – not to be confused with the former OM player – allows Girona to be the co-best attack in La Liga and to be one of the teams practicing the most enjoyable game in Europe.
It must be said that in addition to a fashionable coach, the club – co-owned by the City Group – has in its ranks players who fit perfectly into the system put in place by the former player of the Rayo Vallecano. There is for example Aleix Garcia, who is one of the best midfielders in the Spanish championship, his friend Yangel Herrera or the two Ukrainians Victor Tsygankov and Artem Dobvyk, two lethal elements in the offensive sector. But if there is one player who surprises everyone, it is Savinho, the young Brazilian winger who belongs to… ESTAC. On loan – the City Group is in charge, obviously – the young Brazilian is establishing himself as one of the very best young people in La Liga, alongside Lamine Yamal and Jude Bellingham.
A total revelation
At the age of 19, he already has 3 goals and 4 assists on the clock in 11 days. But above all, the left-hander, who plays as a left winger, is what we call a thrill player, capable of making incredible differences with the ball. Trained at Atlético Mineiro, he was bought by the CFG in 2022, arriving at Troyes where he did not, however, play a single minute, since he was immediately loaned to PSV, where he did not had a lot of opportunities to show off. In Spain, in a context extremely favorable to the development of young players – Girona has allowed talents like Yan Couto or Rodrigo Riquelme to explode – he is enjoying himself, and us. However, his arrival had not necessarily raised a lot of expectations and he was not particularly expected at this level.
Obviously, his performances do not go unnoticed and Sport tells us that Barça is following its development very closely. The club’s sporting director, Deco, has known him since he played in Brazil, he who started professionally at just 16 years old. It must be said that his profile as a dribbler and differential player in one-on-one situations is extremely rare, and therefore valuable. Especially since he is generally very lucid and intelligent in the last meters, when it comes to concluding actions with this last gesture where young players often fail. Vinicius Junior was a good example of this during his first season in Madrid, but Savinho does not have this problem. Clearly, his teammates and Girona fans may be witnessing the birth of a monster. There is no doubt that on the Manchester City side, Pep Guardiola is following all of this very closely…
