There was no doubting the subject of our chat with the technical coordinator of Benfica’s famed academy as an imposing figure seemed keen to oversee what was being said.
“At the end of last season we put up some players on the wall to inspire others, and who better than Ruben,” Rodrigo Magalhaes tells i.
The Ruben in the background of our Zoom call is the latest Benfica academy graduate to become a big-money Manchester City acquisition, following a well-trodden path.
Ruben Dias joins Ederson, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo in the senior City side to have spent at least some of their formative years under the expert guidance of Magalhaes and his team.
While the others before him have all made a significant impact, Dias has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water since arriving for £62million in the summer and, in Dias, City fans are finally starting to feel at ease, safe in the knowledge that a longstanding deficiency may finally be resolved.
City’s defence, as their strikers have struggled amid a stuttering start to the current campaign, has conceded just six times in their last 12 games, with Dias, 23, the only mainstay having started seven league matches in a row. However, he has not always been quite so impressive.
“Me and Nene [former Benfica and Portugal great] saw Ruben play against us when he was 11 years old,” Magalhaes remembers. “He was an average player. His technique was good, but not excellent. It was his focus and work ethic that allowed him to reach the level he is at today.
“We improved his technical level, game knowledge and decision-making. He developed his physical level. His ability to always work at his limit, even when his performance was not as high as others, makes him so, so rare. We saw these characteristics from the very beginning.”
The term “leader” has become a buzzword in football thanks to Roy Keane’s rambling rants. One player who has not been the target of Keane’s ire, and is unlikely to ever be, is Dias.
“He [Dias] has come in and just moulded in – it’s like he’s been there for ages,” City youngster Taylor Harwood-Bellis said recently. “He’s a leader, you can tell.”
Magalhaes adds: “He had different things that distinguished him as a player. Leadership, communication and the kind of special charisma on the pitch, even in that very first game as an 11-year-old. He was like a general – he talked to everyone and organised the whole team.”
Once in the setup at Benfica Campus, Dias, like many before him, was in the perfect place to progress to the very top. Along with City’s quartet, the Premier League is littered with players who learnt their trade at Benfica as youngsters – Victor Lindelof, Nelson Semedo, Helder Costa, Andre Gomes, Gedson Fernandes and Ivan Cavaleiro.
Clubs across Europe are similarly reaping the rewards of Magalhaes’s hard work, such as Atletico Madrid with Joao Felix.
But why does Pep Guardiola, no stranger to recognising the very best embryonic talent, prefer to do his shopping at Benfica? “I don’t know Pep personally, but our football philosophy is the same,” Magalhaes says. “We are usually an offensive team that dominates possession. Also, our long-term development includes an approach to different tactical systems.
“In seven-a-side football with our youth teams we play a 2-3-1 formation and also a 3-2-1. In nine-a-side, we play 3-2-3 and 4-3-1 systems. Then we play 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 systems at 11-a-side. We produce players with very high adaptability, which Pep seems to like.
“It is very important for us to produce players who can play in a variety of positions in the same game. Bernardo Silva plays like a midfielder then a winger, Cancelo plays as a winger then an offensive full-back, and Ruben can play in defensive midfield, too, or on the right of a three-man defence.
“Our way makes players athletic, improves their knowledge and gives them a different view of the game. I think our vision is the correct vision, and I think Guardiola appreciates our views.”
As City prepare to take on Benfica’s great rivals Porto in the Champions League with qualification for the knockout stages in the bag, Guardiola, never one for wholesale changes, may be thinking about at least resting some of his key players.
Dias could be in-line for a well-deserved breather, but don’t bet on it. After spending over £400m on defenders, Guardiola’s search for the ideal centre-back appears to be over, and the ghost of Vincent Kompany can haunt the club no more.
“Everyone respected him [Dias], and everyone obeyed him and did what he wanted,” Magalhaes adds. “It was incredible to see.
“He’s ambitious, works so hard, very strong mentality, is a leader and is humble. He has everything a manager would want. It is no surprise to us who have known him for a long time he looks so comfortable in England.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/39wLjQg
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