Neil Fernandes
If you were to ask me this past summer if I knew who Ola John was and what he would bring to the Benfica squad, I would of looked on his Wikipedia page and told you the following:
1) 20 year old Liberian born winger. Now Dutch.
2) Played 2 years for FC Twente scored 9 goals.
Benfica acquired John for approximately 9 million euros (at this rate it will eventually be 12) during the summer transfer window of 2012 from FC Twente of Holland.
What has John done since his SLB arrival?
According to his stats:
John has played 2 League games and assisted 1 goal. John has played 3 UEFA Champions League games and had a remarkable goal against Celtic and also has 1 assist during the competition.
Until recent, John was receiving no game time. They bought him and sat him on the bench. A good, young player who was hungry to play. Now if you're Ola John you might be thinking, why the hell did I leave my home to come here?
We all wondered what was JJ's plans with the young 20 year old? During the pre-season not only was the team stacked with strikers but Benfica was stacked with almost one dozen wingers such as;
Nolito
Gaitán
Salvio
Enzo
Bruno César (adapted winger)
Urreta (where is he?)
Djaló (not much competition)
Fernández (on loan to Olhanese)
Amorim (could of also been an adapted winger)
And these names don't include the squads at Benfica B or Benfica Jr.
At one point we thought John would just stay on the B squad and if he got to play at all. With Gaitán, and Nolito not in the best form as of late, and with potential January transfer rumours flying high, (There may be a potential exit for both of those players Gaitán to Anzhi and Nolito possibly back to Spain) John, may continue to start and permanently become a start at The Luz. However, if you look at every good young player overtime what made them great was competeting for a starting 11 spot on their team. Competition is always good for every player. We don't want to push the kid and give him a larger then life ego. Things don't just fall into place, he has to work hard and continue to prove to himself, the coach, and the fans that he is the real deal.
If there is another left winger player who can compete for the same spot as John (I.e Nolito, César, even Melgarejo) then for every practice and game John will have to continue to prove himself. If there is no competition for his spot and he is expected to start every game regardless of his form, then the kid will either begin to not give a shit or not try as hard, or worst case scenario crash and burn.
I notice this right now on Benfica with Maxi. As much as I love Maxi, (when I filled out my Benfica membership, I voted him in my top 3 next to Benfica's captain, then Aimar) why was he always starting every game over the last 2 seasons?
There was no competition for someone else to start in his position and unfortunately, some games he lacked his normal energy because he was bored or burnt out. However, if you noticed the most recent UEFA champions league game vs. Celtic this past Tuesday, it was André Almeida who was starting and not Maxi in the RB role. Was Maxi hurt? or is Almeida competing for a top spot?
It is an exciting time for Benfica fans. Benfica is currently in first with FC Porto and still surviving the Portuguese Cup and UEFA Champions League. I'm excited to see how John and all of the other fresh young talent will contribute to the 2012/13 Benfica campaign.
VIVÁ OLÁ JOÃO E VIVÁ O BENFICA!
