No, it’s not years of experience at the professional level with well-known clubs such as Arsenal and Panathinaikos – those accolades belong to another Gilberto, Gilberto Aparecido da Silva. In fact, Toronto’s new $3 million dollar signing couldn’t be any more different than the current Atlético Mineiro man.
The younger Gilberto, who comes from the north eastern Brazilian town of Piranhas fittingly enough, is a poacher. Like the predatory fish his hometown is named after, he has a reputation for storming the 18-yard box and devouring anything that comes his way. According to Toronto FC Head Coach Ryan Nelsen, “Gilberto is a powerful striker with a great deal of speed and the ability to score all kinds of goals”. Any compilation video of his goals can attest to this, but he is also known to score the odd screamer from 30 yards out like in what is his arguably most famous strike against Nautico.
Gilberto is relatively young at 24 years of age yet he is still to enter his prime. His “breakout” season came last year while on loan at Brazilian first division side Portuguesa from his parent club Internacional, scoring 14 goals in 24 matches, good for 7th in scoring in the Brazilian Serie A. It may not be the Italian Serie A yet he is above such notable names as Alexandre Pato, Ronaldinho , Leandro Damiao and former Toronto FC target Diego Forlan, however appearing in significantly more fixtures than the latter three. Funnily enough, Damaio and Forlan play for Internacional, Gilberto’s parent club where he failed to cement a place in the squad.
The question is how will this translate into a completely new environment at Toronto FC? He has the potential to become a clinical finisher in the MLS; there is no question about that. But playing for a club notorious for underachieving with a revolving cast of personnel and players, there will always be questions. It seems Ryan Nelsen will be back in the New Year, with Tim Bezbatchenko compiling a squad that will fit his desired playing style. We can expect fast wingers like Jackson and Alvaro Rey pressuring the opposing full backs, ball winner Matias Laba and finicky attacking midfielder Jonathan Osorio providing the link between midfield and attack. The prospect of Laba and Osorio linking up with Gilberto is a mouth-watering one. They might even have the opportunity to gain some chemistry what with Gilberto’s transfer being prior to the commencement of training camp unlike a mid-year transfer as Laba’s was. A December transfer also means that come March 15th in Seattle, Gilberto should be familiar with his surroundings and acclimatized – there should be no aspects of his game that need to be ironed out.
The issue at hand is how Nelsen will utilize the players at his disposal, what with the pending transfer of a big-name Designated Player in the form of Jermain Defoe supposedly arriving in the transfer window or March depending on the source. Nelsen’s challenge will be determining where Gilberto will be placed in the starting eleven. For the most part this past season Nelsen preferred a 4-3-3 with Earnshaw being the sole central attacker. Nelsen will have to adapt his tactics unless Gilberto or Defoe are going to ply their trade out wide, which is highly unlikely as a 4-3-3 does not work to either of their strengths. How Gilberto will slot into the side is yet to be determined, and probably won’t be until the season commences. Who knows if the fabled DP will even arrive? The curious case of Diego Forlan certainly comes to mind when the conversation of Toronto bringing in a DP arises – no deal is a done deal until the press conference is held.
What is certain however is that Gilberto brings with him the pedigree of a proven goal scorer and he’ll try his best to put his talents on display in the Red and White of Toronto FC.
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