AS Monaco’s season is not yet to be thrown in the trash. A month after an early elimination against Braga in the Europa League and a sad defeat in Strasbourg, a sequence that had given Dmitri Rybolovlev the desire for revolution, the princely club is back in the race for the podium and qualification for the League of champions. Success in Rennes (2-3) delighted the ambitions of the Monegasque leaders and the derby against Nice, this Wednesday evening, is a great meeting to confirm this renewal. This is of course linked to the performance of captain Wissam Ben Yedder, ultra-decisive and once again indisputable holder since the arrival of Philippe Clément, but not only. Arrived from Brazil in January, Vanderson, 20, is starting to make a name for himself in the French championship and already looks like a good pick for ASM.

“He already understands French, he is always at the service of the team, no matter what position I put him in, and he is growing with each meeting. » Philippe Clément, coach of AS Monaco

The new Monegasque didn’t take long to adapt to his new club and the European climate. When some young South Americans sometimes need long months to acclimatize to life on the Old Continent, he very quickly presented himself as a new asset in Clément’s sleeve. Vanderson has thus taken part in sixteen of the seventeen meetings of Monaco since he settled in the Principality (seven tenures), only missing the reception of PSG last month because of the Covid-19. Presented as a right side and a potential competitor to Djibril Sidibé and Ruben Aguilar, he has established himself a notch higher in recent weeks. It was in this rather attacking right midfield position that the Brazilian arrow made a very clean copy of Rennes this weekend, scoring with a spontaneous strike after a caviar from Aleksandr Golovin and delivering an assist for Myron Boadu. Very active in his lane, he ruined the life of Birger Meling, released by his coach shortly before the hour mark. “Vanderson is a young player with a lot of intelligencerejoiced at a press conference Clément, bombarded with questions about the phenomenon. He already understands French, he is always at the service of the team, regardless of the position in which I align him, and he grows with each meeting. » As proof, his performance at the Vélodrome six weeks earlier, where he had given satisfaction by returning to his position on the right side of the Monegasque defense.

“The only problem with Vanderson is that you wonder why a boy of that age ends every meeting with cramps. » Renato Gaucho, first coach son at Grêmio, on his professional debut

Relegation, cramps and Rafinha’s advice

A place in which he discovered the big world on the other side of the Atlantic, at Grêmio Porto Alegre, Ronaldinho’s training club, starting by pointing the tip of his nose at the start of 2021, notably challenging the double confrontation lost against Palmeiras in the Brazilian Cup final. “The only problem with Vanderson is that you wonder why a boy of that age ends every meeting with cramps. It’s complicated for a coach to always have to replace a player under 20 due to crampsunderlined Renato Gaucho, the one who launched it, after the first appearances of the Brazilian kid. This is a problem that should have been dealt with earlier, I will speak to the medical department and the physiologists to try to understand. » The former striker found answers, since Vanderson became essential the following season, participating in 52 meetings (4 goals, 3 assists) including thirty in their entirety. A painful apprenticeship, Vanderson rubbing shoulders with four different technicians, including Luiz Felipe Scolari, during a year that saw Grêmio Porto Alegre relegated to the second division. Still, the sequence of matches and training alongside a few stalwarts like Rafinha, the former Bayern Munich, whose place he took, helped the player to shape himself. “He is one of the great people who helped me grow. Rafinha brought me a lot in almost all areas on the pitch: positioning, marking and many other thingsexplained Vanderson at the beginning of the year to the media GHz. As soon as he gave me advice, I tried to follow it and repeat it to learn. »

This winter, the native of Rondonópolis, in the south of Brazil, chose to launch his career in Europe in Monaco despite the lusts of Arsenal, Tottenham and AC Milan. A good move from Paul Mitchell, appears between eleven and fifteen million euros, after a less successful summer transfer window with disappointing main recruits (Myron Boadu, Jean Lucas, Ismail Jakobs). A little breath for the sports director of the ASM, whose position would be less threatened than in March according to The Team, which highlighted the cost that his dismissal would entail. Vanderson, he advances without worrying about the tremors behind the scenes, received from a locker room speaking a little Portuguese (Gelson Martins, Caio Henrique, Jean Lucas) and dreaming of following the same trajectory as certain compatriots who have passed through La Turbie. “The first that comes to mind is Fabinho, who revealed himself here in my position, then becoming champion of Francehe clarified on his arrival. He is an inspiration to me. It is important for me to say that there are other Brazilian players who have passed through this club and who have succeeded here before me. I have to take inspiration from them. » Before perhaps becoming the model for the future Brazilians of the Principality club.

By Clement Gavard