Tim Vickery column

By Tim Vickery South American football reporter

Read my answers to this week's questions

There's no doubt about the highlight of working as a football journalist in South America - the opportunity to spot the next generation of global stars.

It's like having a private screening of a film that you know is going to be a blockbuster.

Pato celebrates scoring on his much-anticipated AC Milan debut

It was like that three years ago in Colombia, at the continent's Under-20 Championships. Argentina had called up Lionel Messi, but even they didn't know a great deal about him. He had been at Barcelona since he was 13, and he'd only played one friendly for them.

There had been whispers of his promise, but as he took the field for the first game he looked more like the pigeon-toed runt of the litter than a potentially world-class footballer - until he received the ball.

Then, it was instantly obvious that we were dealing with something very special, and that those of us in Colombia were very privileged to be in at the start of the story.

Brazil's Alexandre Pato is a similar case. From his first kick in senior football it was clear that here was another youngster who had been touched by the hand of genius.

He made his debut for Internacional away to Palmeiras in November 2006, just two months past his 17th birthday. He scored in the first minute and set up two more in the opening half hour.

Palmeiras didn't know what hit them, and it was no wonder. Internacional were well aware they had unearthed a diamond, and they had been terrified of losing it.

Before his debut Pato was showing his extraordinary ability in training. But the club asked their players not to talk about him to the press, as other clubs might hear about him and be tempted. So there would be no fanfares or first team matches until he had signed a contract - and when he did, Palmeiras were the unfortunate victims.

Now the secret is well and truly out. All of Europe is aware that Alexandre Pato is the genuine article

It is quite a contrast to his competitive debut for Milan last Sunday. He moved to Italy during the close season transfer window in August, but because of his age Milan were only allowed to register him this year.

For months the expectation has been building - especially with the team's dismal form at home. Word seeped out of the training camp of Pato's astonishing potential. The 18-year-old was being cast in the role of saviour.

And then he went out against Napoli and showed that he could take all the fuss in his exuberantly youthful stride.

The fluency of movement, the courage to take defenders on, the cool, precise finishing - the virtues he showed in his brief time in Brazil were on display against Napoli.

And if he didn't get the chance to give a demonstration of the threat he carries in the air, he crowned his performance with a solo goal which will have defenders all over Serie A sitting up and fretting about how to deal with him.

It goes without saying that he is nowhere near being the finished article. Pato has a nice problem, but at this stage in his career a problem nonetheless.

He can do so many things that picking his options is not easy; he would be well advised to keep things simpler outside the penalty area and leave the flash stuff for when it can really make a difference.

But now the secret is well and truly out. All of Europe is aware that Alexandre Pato is the genuine article.

The days of the private screening for us in South America are over.

From now on his TV appearances will be in front of a global audience of millions.

You can put your questions to Tim Vickery every week on the World Football Phone-in on Radio 5 Live's Up All Night programme from 0230 to 0400 GMT every Saturday. You can also download last week's World Football Phone-in Podcast.

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YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Got a question about South American football for Tim Vickery? Email him at [e-mail]

How successful have South American managers been in European football?
Luke Best

Not nearly as successful as the players. I don't think you can really include Helenio Herrera, who had massive success especially with Inter Milan, as he was born in Argentina but grew up in Casablanca. There are some success stories - Brazil's Otto Gloria took Portugal to the 1966 World Cup semi-finals, Didi also did well there and Argentina's Alfredo De Stefano won titles in Spain. More recently Hector Cuper did well with Mallorca, Chile's Manuel Pellegrini has done extremely well at Villarreal, and there's Luiz Felipe Scolari with the Portuguese national team.

But even coaches who have been hugely successful in South America - Carlos Bianchi and Wanderley Luxemburgo, for example - have not enjoyed the same success in Europe. The game is quicker, and there's also the fact that nowadays the European clubs may contain squads with 12 different nationalities - South American football doesn't really prepare them for this type of situation. But I'm sure that the South American coaches would argue that they would do much better if they received more opportunities.

I would like to ask your opinion on a pub debate myself and friends had recently. I argued that if Eduardo Da Silva had stayed with his native Brazil he'd be a first pick by now and would be incredible come the World Cup in 2010.
Michael Gillespie, Glasgow

Everything is easier in hindsight. But at the time that he received the offer to play for Croatia he was a complete unknown in Brazil, and he could hardly have imagined that so much was going to happen in his career and that Brazil would momentarily find themselves a bit short on goalscorers. And since his form for Croatia must have played a big part in the move to Arsenal, I doubt that he can have too many regrets, especially with Alexandre Pato on the rise.

Back in Brazil they still don't seem to know too much about him. I was watching the Arsenal-West Ham game on Brazilian TV recently, and the commentator and supposedly expert summariser got into a big debate about whether Dunga should call Eduardo up for Brazil, concluding that he was indeed worth a look. I could hardly believe it. The mispronunciations you have to tolerate, I suppose (West Ham always seem to be pronounced 'Westham' which gets on my nerves, though Newcastle parting company with their manager Sam Al-Ardis gave me a laugh). We'll put these things down to misfortune. But not knowing that Eduardo was an established Croatian international looks more like carelessness.