It is finally official: Giovanni has signed a contract at Ajax. In this article, we will introduce the Brazilian talent.
Almost one year ago already, rumours about Giovanni and Ajax first started to appear in the (Brazilian) media. Now he is set to continue his career at Ajax. Giovanni Manson Ribeiro played in the academy of Santos since the age of 10. He is considered to be one of the best talents from Santos’ 2001–2002 generation. At first, it seemed like he was going to sign a contract with a huge release clause (somewhere around 100 million euro, according to multiple Brazilian media). However, despite the fact that his father is a huge Santos fan, they were unable to resolve the negotiations.
As with a few other players, Santos was unable to reach an agreement about a new contract. This meant that they were no longer welcome at the academy. Since that moment they were no longer part of team training sessions. Because of that, he trained individually in Brazil with a performance trainer, who previously also trained personally with other great Brazilian talents and players, including Neymar and Rodrygo.
We spoke with Caio Nascimento about Giovanni. Caio is a Brazilian journalist and a great follower of youth football in Brazil, South America and Europe. He is a huge Santos and Ajax (!) fan and follower as well. Time to talk about Ajax’ newest Brazilian signing.
The start
At Ajax many talents started in the academy at a very young age. This is similar to Giovanni’s situation when he joined Santos’ academy. “At the age of 10 he joined the Santos’ academy already. During the years he played in several attacking positions. Nevertheless, Giovanni has been considered one of the gems in Santos’ academy since he was a little boy, because of his natural talent. As said earlier Giovanni belongs to one of Santos’ finest generation, which includes names such as Kaio Jorge, Sandry, Victor Yan, Cadu and Matheus Moraes. It’s a very talented crop that the ‘Alvinegro Praiano’ developed during the last couple of years. Kaio Jorge and Sandry both played for the national team that won the U17 World Cup in Brazil, a few months ago. Giovanni could have played during that tournament as well, but due to the contract disagreement with Santos he hasn’t played any official matches anymore, resulting in him being left out of the Brazil U17 squad.”
Position(s)
Giovanni is talented, that is clear, but it will be very interesting to see how the young Brazilian will adapt to Ajax’ style of play and how he will play after such a long time without game time in a team. The talent can play in multiple attacking roles. So, it will also be interesting to see in which position(s) he is going to play. “He played in several attacking positions during the years in Santos’ academy. He can play as a striker, as a winger and also as an attacking midfielder. His best qualities are dribbling with pace and his finishing abilities. I think he plays even better when he has the open field to his vision. He’s quite tall for his age, so he can play backwards to the goal as well, like a target-man”, Caio says.
“The two biggest concerns regarding Giovanni are his current form and his adaptation to a more tactical game that is practiced in Europe. It’s not common for Brazilian footballers to hold tactical responsibilities at a young age. I think Giovanni will need some time to adapt and to understand Ajax’ philosophy. That’s probably something that Antony will have to work on too.”
Twitteraccounts
Caio: https://twitter.com/caiocnascimento?s=20
AjaxYA: https://twitter.com/AjaxYA?s=20
Giovanni: https://twitter.com/Oficial_gi02?s=20
