Who Is This Fabio Paim?

Luiz Felipe Scolari has agreed to take Sporting Lisbon’s Fabio Paim on loan until the end of the season. But who is he?

Well, he’s a 20 year-old Portuguese winger who, at one time was widely regarded as the next big thing. It was suggested his football was in the same vein as Quaresma – great vision, quick feet and a pretty good shot to boot.

So, when you consider he’s had loan spells with Trofense and Pacos Ferreira last season, with a mere seven appearances for the latter, you’d think Sporting were mad surely? Why wasn’t he in the first team? And why on earth aren’t Sporting following everyone else’s lead when it comes to Chelsea by putting a ridiculous price on his head? Could it be that he simply hasn’t lived up to the early hype?

Well, according to what I’ve read (and no, I don’t believe everything I see in print), he is supposedly talented, or at least has the potential there. Here’s the ‘but’ though – his attitude and temperament have apparently seen him pick up more than his fair share of red cards, he lacks tactical focus and as if that’s not enough of a concern, he also sustained a pretty bad injury a few years ago that could make him a little prone to intermittent effects.

At least now it starts to make a little more sense. Because usually, the Portuguese club, who seem to have the knack of producing quality from their youth system, would surely have given Manchester United first pickings at a player they either weren’t planning to keep or wanted to make some money on. The two clubs have a pretty good relationship which has seen Manchester United benefit in the form of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani.

That’s not to say his temperament would put Ferguson off of course, if Scolari thinks he can manage the youngster, then Ferguson certainly could. But maybe the other rumoured difficulties were the deciding factor? After all, players like Moutinho have been retained whilst neither Ronaldo nor Nani were farmed out on loan, but sold for £12million and £17million respectively. So I for one won’t be expecting Paim to be the ‘Ronaldinho-alike’ he’s made out to be.

Fabio himself, is said to be ‘both thrilled and shocked’ at his loan move to Chelsea, telling Maisfutebol “It is a surprise, I was not expecting anything. I have no words to describe it. It is an unbelievable thing, it is a very important step and undoubtedly the greatest of my career. Beyond my loan year, they have an option to buy and of course, they have to observe me.”

So I guess we’ll have to wait and see what he’s got?