Posted on 01/29/2005 7:17:36 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Nine-year-old Jean Carlos Chera, who stands 1.37 meters (4-foot-6), is attracting interest from Manchester United and other top European football teams.
Chera, who weighs 35 kilograms (77 pounds), currently plays for the youth teams of Associacao Desportiva Atletica, a small club in the southern Brazilian state of Parana.
"Seven or eight European clubs have already contacted us to know more about Jean," team president Adilson Batista Prado said on Thursday.
"They want to know what he is all about, and I tell them he's a phenomenon, probably the best player to come out of Brazil."
Prado and team officials would not identify all the clubs interested in Jean, but confirmed that representatives of Manchester United have asked for videotapes of his matches.
Prado said teams from Portugal, France and Germany have made contact, and local media identified FC Porto as one of the teams.
The club said the European clubs haven't made official offers yet, but some have asked for permission to send representatives, and others have invited the midfielder and his family to go to Europe.
"He still needs to be a kid," said Prado, who does not allow Chera to talk to reporters.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
We are good at recruiting people that literally are hungry for success. It is no joke to say tha third worlders run and play harder than firsters a lot of the time. Everything depends on their game.
Might as well cancel the next 10 World Cups and just let Brazil keep the Rimet Trophy.
pong
Which brings up the point: is Freddy Adu a 3rd'er or a 1st'er? Remember, Freddy is originally from Ghana, and was offered I believe $500K by Juventus at age 10.
Not too sure. Lots of money though!
There is a lot of money being thrown around in England at the moment since Roman Abromavich fled Russia with $15 Billion and decided to spend a few hundred million on Chelsea.
He singlehandedly saved the transfer market.
And it looks as though he'll get his title this year too.
Don't know about you, but I'm starting to spend more time over at yanks-abroad.com. Good coverage of our boys playing across the pond.
And date with T&T is almost here; I can hardly stand it!
Nine-year-old John Charles, who stands 4-foot-6, is attracting interest from several major league baseball
teams.
Charles, who weighs 77 pounds, is currently a third baseman for the Ed's Bail Bonds little league team.
He is batting .235 and hit 1 homer last year, driving
in 3 runs. Last year he made 25 errors, while his teammates
easily made twice that many.
The Yankees, Cardinals, Washington Nationals, and A's have expressed interest. "As long as my mom and dad are around to give me a ride to the games, it's cool," the fourth
grader said.
"He still needs to be a kid," admitted his agent,
Scott Booros. "But if they're willing to spend millions
on him, why not?" :)
One obstacle he faces is the fact that there are ninety feet in between each base in Major League baseball instead of sixty feet. "It won't be so easy to run like I used'ta," he admits.
Obvious satire. Make it more realistic -- MLB GM's aren't usually interested in young position players, but young *pitchers*.
Of course, there are exceptions.
Yup--and there was a movie along that line, Rookie of the Year. 12 yr old boy goes to Wrigley Field and when an opposing player hits a home run, he "throws it back" and everyone discovers that thanks to an odd "injury", he now possesses a great throwing arm. He gets signed to the team!
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