Oriol Rosell left MLS to play with the 2013/14 runner-up of the Primeira Liga, Sporting Clube de Portugal, to replace Fabian Rinaudo and even play in the starting eleven if William Carvalho happens to leave the club this summer, or even if he happens to be a better solution for coach Marco Silva than Carvalho is.
William Carvalho had a great season in what was actually his first in Sporting’s squad after leaving the academy, since he was playing on loan to clubs like Fatima (Portuguese 3rd division) and Cercle Brugge (Belgium).
William Carvalho was a wonderful surprise. He showed his ability to dribble under pressure using his strong body to protect the ball, to execute long passes, and uses his great positional sense to defend and recover the ball when the opponent is attacking. Besides all of those qualities he is also a big man, being 6 foot 1, quick, and very powerful. The 22 year-old Portuguese defensive midfielder won the award “best young player of the month” 4 times. Even more impressively he was awarded “best player of the month” 3 times and is seen by sports media all around Europe as a world class player in that position. He has been strongly linked with a transfer to Premier League giants Manchester United several times since January, further speculation is rife that the player could possibly leave Sporting this summer.
Take a look at what he can do, in this video of a match against FC Porto:
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Uri Rosell has been a starter for Sporting since he got to Lisbon, but that was because the Portuguese player was still on vacation. Carvalhohas since returned and he is most likely going to be Marco Silva’s first choice for now.
Rosell as shown to be a true warrior. A powerful player, a hard-worker and very strong phisically. He is also very good with the defensive side of the game and can deliver the ball to his teammates accurately. But even though he has proven to be a good “commander” of the midfield, there is still a big difference when comparing to William Carvalho.
The truth is, you just don’t find players like Carvalho coming out your youth teams every day, and Rosell is a very good and complete player, but there are still things he will have to work if he wants to compete for that position with the Portuguese player, such as long passes and the ability to dribble through the midfield under pressure. Possibly the thing that has more impact in the way Sporting play, is that Rosell doesn’t feel comfortable picking the ball up out of defence and starting attacks when the defensive players are tightly marked and struggle to hold the ball up individually. This often results in the goalkeeper having to “go long”, as opposed to play the ball out of defence, something Carvalho is well adept at doing and excels in.
Either way the 22 year-old spaniard is proving to be a great deal for Sporting, the second MLS’er in a row having success at Sporting CP – after Freddy Montero – and even if William Carvalho stays at Sporting, Rosell will have opportunities to play in competitions such as the Portuguese Cup, Taça da Liga and the UEFA Champions League. If Carvalho leaves, then Rosell will either be the first choice for that position and compete with Ruben Semedo. Alternatively Sporting will look to sign some one else for that important position.
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