Portsmouth would appear to have staged a coup with the signing of Argentina
international Juan Pablo Sorin from Brazilian club Cruzeiro for a mere £1.27m.
The 27-year-old, known as 'Juanpi', has played 41 times for Argentina,
scoring seven goals.
Sorin first came to prominence as captain of the side that won the 1995
World Youth Cup.
At the time he was playing at centre-back.
But he was clearly too small to fill the position at senior level, and so settled down
at left-back, before more recently also operating on the left side of midfield.
Probably the best football of his career was played during the last World
Cup qualification campaign.
With his crisp tackling, scampering runs and ability to get into the penalty area and score goals, he immediately improved the balance of the Argentina team.
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Sorin has already demonstrated that he has the capacity to adapt
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His international prestige has not been affected by last year's World Cup flop and he captained his country in a recent friendly against Libya.
Along with last year's World Cup, the major disappointment in Sorin's career
so far is that he has not yet established himself in Europe.
A spell with Juventus in the mid-90s came too soon.
And in last season's loan spells with Lazio and Barcelona he found it hard to shine amid
turbulent surroundings.
But Sorin has already demonstrated that he has the capacity to adapt.
Many
predicted that his move to Brazil would end in tears, both for the fact that
he is from Argentina, and also because he was a foreign left-back in a
country that produces so many outstanding players in the position.
But he
had an excellent time with Cruzeiro, winning over the fans with his will to
win and his all round skills.
More of the same will make him an asset both to Portsmouth and to the
Premiership.
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