Rafa Silva

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Last week we covered Portuguese reports of Tottenham interest in SC Braga's Rafael Ferreira Silva. The youngster, better known as Rafa has picked up the bizarre label of 'Portuguese Hazard' along the way. O Jogo, one of the country's highest selling sport newspapers, last week claimed that Tottenham Hotspur were monitoring the player closely and therefore could be considering a move.

La Liga side Sevilla had a €5m bid turned down in the summer by Braga and it's no surprise why they want more. He scored the club's first two goals against Gil Vicente on Sunday and that got him the man of the match award and a whole load of praise.

What made it more impressive for Rafa is that he was playing as a second striker , whereas he usually plays out on the wing, hence the comparison to Hazard. His manager Ferreira was quoted by A Bola as saying "Rafa? He is a striker who has played on the left, but this is not his place."



Despite only being 20 years old and relatively recently bursting on to the scene, reports are starting in Portugal suggesting Rafa could even be included in the country's World Cup squad, which just goes to underline how highly thought of he is.

The news of Tottenham interest may have given him a boost. http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/...-game-of-season-as-news-of-club-s-interest-sp




Yes please!!

 

[TheAmerican]

That is the longest highlight video I believe I have ever seen.

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

That is the longest highlight video I believe I have ever seen.

Yep, I dont say this often but we need to get on this A.S.A.P, looks like a fantastic prospect.

 

[JerryGarcia]

Can't watch all of that now but his name is Rafa so sign him up!

 

[kitchen]

Me likey. A winger with genuine vision, based on the clip. I like the way he gets his head up and picks out the free man. He's got a wicked shot too by the looks of it.

 

[DaSpurs]

Me likey. A winger with genuine vision, based on the clip. I like the way he gets his head up and picks out the free man. He's got a wicked shot too by the looks of it.

Pretty much exactly what we could use.

 

[Sweech]

Wonder how much they want for him. The kid looks pretty class already for a 20 year old.

 

[spurs9]

Wow!! he looks good for his age. Very quick, skillful, great first touch, end product and vision. I would be a very happy man if all we got in summer was this guy, Ricardo Rodriguez and a decent back up GK (assuming Friedel retires) and we only sold players we don't need e.g. Siggy, BAE and one of lennon or townsend.

 

[jonnyp]

Pace, great technique and touch, seems to have a decent shot as well. Very impressive, but that's only from judging that video, never seen a full match with him.

 

[PrettyColors]

This kid looks really, really good.

Perhaps it's just the highlight tape but he looks very promising.

 

[Tyler24durden]

Just the type of signing we should be going for and do it now before a bigger club swoops.

He looks to have fantastic vision and awareness , reminds me of a vdv with pace.

Levy, sign him up and don't wait around.

 

[biscuitbeck]

Sorry for the lack of knowledge, but I think I may speak for a few when I say "who?"

He does look class from the highlight reel though. But do we need another foreign attacking player?

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Sorry for the lack of knowledge, but I think I may speak for a few when I say "who?"

He does look class from the highlight reel though. But do we need another foreign attacking player?

Most of the best players in Europe were a "who?" at one point. I dont care where he comes from if he improves the team.

 

[Dharmabum]

From youtube he looks "above" the average player. Thing is, this is where Spurs MUST crack the code of discovering a great prospect's chances of developing (a code that is very hard to crack anyway); as Spurs rarely have the money to spend on the finished artilce (well, they did on Soldado and Lamela....hmmm).
Portuguese players have a tendency to appear on the scene around that age and look like (over priced) world stars...just to fade away the next season and never to live up to their potential.

 

[jambreck]

Most of the best players in Europe were a "who?" at one point. I dont care where he comes from if he improves the team.

Agreed on the whole but with one caveat.

And that is that we have to be sure that any young player who we buy in is better than or different to what we already have coming out of our academy system. Too often, young players haven't made it at Spurs because they have found too many players ahead of them. It's enough that they have to fight their way past established players, let alone that their path is also blocked by players bought for their potential. Yes, I know the argument that real talent will always find a way through. But I'm not sure that it's true. I suspect that some players' careers are stalled at precisely the wrong moment because of a lack of opportunity and they never go on to fulfil their full potential. Or if they do, it is for another club.

In the past, this wouldn't have mattered so much because we really weren't producing a great deal by way of top quality youth players. But that's changed. We now have some genuinely exciting talent coming through. And we need to leave them enough space to break into the first team squad. We need to show belief in them. All else being equal, we need to prioritise our own youth products over potential young signings from elsewhere.

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Agreed on the whole but with one caveat.

And that is that we have to be sure that any young player who we buy in is better than or different to what we already have coming out of our academy system. Too often, young players haven't made it at Spurs because they have found too many players ahead of them. It's enough that they have to fight their way past established players, let alone that their path is also blocked by players bought for their potential. Yes, I know the argument that real talent will always find a way through. But I'm not sure that it's true. I suspect that some players' careers are stalled at precisely the wrong moment because of a lack of opportunity and they never go on to fulfil their full potential. Or if they do, it is for another club.

In the past, this wouldn't have mattered so much because we really weren't producing a great deal by way of top quality youth players. But that's changed. We now have some genuinely exciting talent coming through. And we need to leave them enough space to break into the first team squad. We need to show belief in them. All else being equal, we need to prioritise our own youth products over potential young signings from elsewhere.

Yep, we went in to this season with basically 2 top class Internationals in each position, and half way through the season 3 of them were unhappy. We need to strike a balance and not overload the squad, keeping an eye on what youth we have emerging. On the flip side, were not gonna produce players like Bentaleb every year, so we need to keep a look out for players like Rafa Silva.

 

[DaSpurs]

Also, some of those foreign attacking players we have need to be sold anyway...

 

[Chris12]

Also, some of those foreign attacking players we have need to be sold anyway...

Why foreign?

 

[DaSpurs]

Why foreign?

Referring to an earlier point in the thread. Utilizing the fact that we already have plenty of foreign attacking players that don't seem to be getting it done is not a solid foundational basis from which to not look for further young talent from abroad. That is a wonderful way to concede our rivals those talents. Buying young prospects, whether domestic or foreign, will always be a gamble.

 

[elDiablo]

What a great prospect. Im sure Chelsea/Mourinho already have their grubby mits on him tho.

And why were Braga playing Nowich in that beginning of the youtube clip?