Ronaldo Nazário believes Brazil needs to prepare better its homegrown players before they move to Europe. In an appearance on the podcast “Mano a Mano”, the 2002 World Cup hero said many Brazilian players arrive in the Old Continent with plenty of things to improve on, and he cited Vinicius Junior as an example.
According to O Fenômeno, many talents left the country “raw”, including the current Real Madrid star. “A very clear case is Vinicius Junior. He was sold to Real Madrid at the age of 18, spending his first year with Real Madrid’s B team. You could see that he wasn’t a refined athlete and everyone thought he would be loaned,” he said.
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Ronaldo says Vinicius is the player he is today thanks to training methods in Spain
“Improved a lot with training programs, professional methodology, with the help of great professionals. He changed from water to wine in two years. Today, he is the most decisive player in world football,” Ronaldo added.
“When he arrived, he couldn’t control the ball with his left foot. And it’s Vinicius, he played for Flamengo. They didn’t prepare him correctly, because they didn’t improve his left foot, they didn’t improve his technical skills, his sense of time and space on the field. It only got better out there.”
