Santos has always provided Brazil’s National Team with key players throughout history. We can mention a few examples such as goalkeeper Gylmar, famous defender Rildo, José Macia more known as ‘Pepe’, Zito who was an idol for so many players of this current generation, and of course, most importantly he who is known as ‘The King’ of the game, the one and only Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
It’s been a while since Santos players were fundamental in helping Brazil add another World Cup star to the shirt, but despite that, Santos continued to be a factory of immense talents. In the last few years, Elano, Robinho, Diego Ribas, Ganso (huge talent destroyed by injuries and poor mentality), Neymar, Danilo, Alex Sandro and Felipe Anderson are some of the famous names who emerged from this club, and either shone at the biggest teams in Europe or helped the Seleção achieve important wins.
In Brazil, many like to call it ‘Selesantos’, looking to how many players it has offered to the Seleção. Only a few days ago, Dunga announced his latest Brazil squad, which featured a name who, honestly, no one who follows Brazilian football was surprised to see. Almost everyone in Brazil, from fans to press, agreed that Lucas Lima was rewarded for his performances with this very deserved call-up. There seems to be a general consensus about it.
So, could Lucas Lima be the next big thing to emerge from Santos, just like all the other famous names mentioned above? Could Lucas Lima write his name in the history of the most successful National Team of the World Cup? Is Lucas Lima worth the hype? Here is an expanded description about his style of play, as well as his characteristics and tendencies on the pitch.
Lucas is not exactly a rising talent, looking his age of 25. He is considered a late bloomer. In fact, it’s not very frequent that a player represents Brazil’s first team without having played any game for the youth categories. Lucas has not been capped at all by Brazil, at any previous occasion. He is the exception to the rule, and not just in terms of age. In terms of style of play, Lucas Lima also imposes himself as the exception in Brazilian football today. In the last few years, many important positions are dying in the country. One of the most important and crucial positions famous as the “regista” in Italy, has been ELIMINATED from Brazilian football, and replaced by what is famous as “segundo volante”.
The role of this second holding midfielder in Brazilian football, is to make long runs, dribble, make assists, shoot and score. The role of the “primeiro volante” is to protect this player by offering him defensive security. Very rarely does a “primeiro volante” help in building attacks, and the traditional Brazilian “segundo volante” in the last 10 years is not exactly the best passer either.
Brazilian football certainly need a revolution. Famous coach Tite, who has won it all at Corinthians, from the league title, to the Libertadores, to the club World Cup, is considered to arguably be the best in business, between all Brazilian managers. After taking a break from coaching, he recently made his comeback to Corinthians in early 2015, implementing new revolutionary ideas. He decided that, the “primeiro volante” not taking part in build up is a mistake, and benched Ralf, who was a starter and considered a key players at Corinthians for a long time, for this reason. Ralf was simply a “destructor”, and had very little impact otherwise. The “primeiro volante” in Brazil is closer to be a third center back on the pitch, whereas the “segundo volante” is often a runner like Ramires, who lacks technical quality or long range passing technique to be a real regista, as in European football. A few examples worth mentioning would be Pirlo, Verratti, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Toni Kroos.
Ironically, the only famous Brazilian who had the playmaking ability to be compared to these names, is Italy NT’s midfielder Thiago Motta. Even him, was not given a chance by Brazil’s NT. It shows that the philosophy of Brazilian football requires a revolution. In the past, Brazilian midfielders were technically the best in the world. The best example would be that famous 82 side with Toninho Cerezo, Falcão, Sócrates, Eder and Zico.
And then, after years of counting on a damaged philosophy, comes the slow revolution, as the consequence of that World Cup upset. A few days ago, 1994 World Cup winner Raí gave an interview where he talked about the upcoming changes in Brazilian football:
“After the catastrophic ending to the World Cup, the policy towards the formation of youngsters will have radical changes to the positive”, he said.
Indeed, a very big number of modern football schools will be built in Brazil. A revolution never takes place in the verge of 24 hours. Germany started theirs in the early beginning of the century, and had to wait until 2014 to get their first achievement as a consequence.
After years of struggling with midfielders with limited technical quality such as Ramires, the National Team will be able to count on some of the most gifted midfielders in the future such as Rafinha (FC Barcelona), Andreas Pereira (Manchester United), Gérson (Fluminense/Roma), Gabriel Boschilia (Monaco), Danilo (Valencia), Lucas Silva (Real Madrid?) and many other names. We have to encourage revolutionary faces such as Tite, or even São Paulo’s famous Colombian coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
Back to Lucas, and to how he imposes himself as the exception. While Oscar and Coutinho would make better “trequartistas” or “attacking midfielders” than him, he has the upper hand on both in his ability to be the architect of a midfield, which makes him a better “regista”, or a “playmaker” if we consider it an attribute, than both EPL stars.
The ability of Lucas Lima to make long range passes in the blink of an eye, his vision, reflex and speed of execution make him the exception in Brazilian football. He is neither a “segundo volante”, nor a “meia-atacante”. Lucas is something in between both, a position which has been eliminated from Brazilian football in the last 10 years. Lucas Lima is a real playmaker. He can play deep as a central midfielder, a bit like Xavi used to at Barça, or as the 10 in a 4-2-3-1, as is Santos’ current tactical scheme, where he has Geuvânio and Gabigol on the wings for support, behind sole striker Ricardo Oliveira. Lucas has so many options on his side, as Santos play short passes, attacking football and count on their attacking quartet to keep making runs and exchanging positions. Santos play beautiful football which Dunga needs to be inspired of, if he wants to get the best out of Lucas Lima.
Technically and in terms of close control, Lucas is at a very high level. His ability to keep the ball under pressure, is better than that of Elias, Fernandinho, Ramires or any other Brazilian “segundo volante”. This is a basic attribute for any regista. Lucas has a lot of pace in him, but most importantly he is not a 1-dimensional dribbler. He often goes zigzag while making his runs, he knows how to confuse the opponent and get past him. Many in Brazil call him “the Brazilian Di Maria”. Personally, he reminds of me David Silva in his vision and through balls. He is a beautiful combination from 2 top players in European football. As for his defending abilities, he is not the best in sliding tackles, but he is full of energy and a hard worker. He is ready to apply pressure on the opponent in order to win the ball. This is very important in football, for example go back to how Dani Alves won the ball from Bernat in the first leg of the Champions League semi final against Bayern, right before the goal. Lucas has this ability, and it would be vital if Dunga was ever to use the counter-pressing tactic, more famous in Germany as the “Gegenpressing”, also perfectly applied by Barcelona.
I watch almost all Santos games, and every game Lucas Lima makes me jump and admire his technical abilities. He is much more than just a You Tube sensation. He is a sensation himself. What amazes me the most is his ease in playing through balls, the vision he has is just exceptional. He does that better than any other Brazilian, which is why he is the best Brazilian playmaker today. In the important Copa do Brasil fixture against league leaders Corinthians last night, Lucas was absolutely sensational and imposed himself as the architect of Santos’ midfield with consistent long balls to set striker Ricardo Oliveira. He ended the game as the author of 2 marvelous assists to Gabriel Barbosa and Marquinhos Gabriel, in a game which saw the hosts Santos emerge to a 2×0 victory. Lucas has so far achieved 10 assists in 2015, more than any Brazilian midfielder in the division, and more assists than both Oscar and Coutinho combined. After the game, famous Brazilian media outlet Globoesporte nicknamed him “Limaestro”.
Lucas has finally gotten his well deserved call-up by the National Team. We hope that Dunga can use him in a central role, the best way possible and to give him enough minutes. The player recently announced that he is departing to European football in after the Brazilian league ends in December. Several clubs have been linked, such as FC Porto and AC Milan. Whichever will be the destination of this Brazilian sensation, we wish him all the best.
Videos don’t do Lucas Lima justice, but I strongly recommend this one, because it shows a bit of his playmaking skills, and how to drive the ball forward:
Brazil Stats 