Gabriel Pereira scored two goals in the 2021 season and was a regular starter for one of Brazil’s biggest clubs
The City Group alongside with the New York City announced the signing of the 20-years-old soccer talent Gabriel Pereira from Corinthians last week. Although the player is not one of the most famous prospects in Brazilian soccer, Pereira has great potential and several minutes in the first team that today has names like William, Jo, Renato Augusto and Paulinho, all with caps to represent Brazil.
And because of that, I spoke with several Corinthians fans (it’s not hard to find one of them around) to find out a more about the fans’ own view of the player.
WHO IS GABRIEL PEREIRA?
Gabriel Pereira, also known as GP, was born in Canindé. Ceará, in the very northeast of Brazil. Because of his talent and dribbling, Gabriel soon drew attention until in 2018 he moved to play at Guarani’s academy in Campinas, São Paulo. Soon after, Gabriel signed with one of the biggest clubs in Brazil, Corinthians.
After two years at the Corinthians academy, Gabriel made his debut in the first team on August 12, 2020, came off the bench in Corinthians’ defeat to Atletico Mineiro in a game valid for the Brazilian Serie A Championship. He actually landed a spot in the first team in November, appearing in a total of nine matches and sitting on the bench in another seven opportunities.
HOW DOES HE PLAY?
Gabriel is a Right-Winger by nature, with a Brazilian style of dribbling and speed on the sides. However, he can also play as a Left-Winger, attacking midfielder and right-midfielder. For different reasons such as roster needs and skills, Gabriel is not a type of player that will go inside the 18′ very often. Different from Talles Magno, GP is that player who will be able to create plays but will hardly be a finisher or goal scorer.
He is also a very good Playmaker. He can break lines with dribbles and be effective on creation, depending on the circumstances he is a right fit in a 3-5-2 formation, always on the right side. At Corinthians he played CAM and CM a few times but it wasn’t his best place in the field, for sure.
But just like Talles, he needs to develop his body more. In a league like the MLS I believe he will have a hard time being relatively small compared to the very physical defenders that exist in the league.
ACADEMY TIME
The “Timao” academy is known as one of the great academies of Brazilian soccer, however the club went through some financial difficulties in recent years but that did not hinder the player’s evolution. He played for Corinthians at Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Jr, biggest academy tournament in Brazil.
FIRST TEAM 2020-2021
After coming off the bench in the first season as a professional player, Gabriel entered the 2021 season as a reliable sub and a possible starter, while being only 20-years-olds. However, he had a very slow start in the 2021, playing around 430 minutes in the first eight months of season. Changes in the coaching staff were a major fact to Gabriel’s slow start.
After Corinthians announced Sylvinho(former Barcelona player) as new head coach, things started to change for Gabriel. He was selected for the squad in all of the last 27 games of the season. 2021 was also the season where Gabriel occupied more positions in the field than ever before in his career: RW, RM, LW, CM and CAM.
He ended the season with 33 games and two goals but as a solid starter for Corinthians, he helped the team to reach a spot on Copa Libertadores and finishing the ‘Brasileirao’ in good manners.
2022
Corinthians still in “preseason” at this point of the season, playing the state championship where Gabriel was one of the starters. However, another coaching staff change happened and Gabriel lost space in the starting lineup, since the new head coach, Portuguese Victor Pereira, decided to go with a more “veteran” lineup instead of using the young kid.
PERSONAL OPINION
As I mentioned on my Twitter few days ago, Gabriel is a very good and talented young player with European potential. Compared to other players in Brazil, I consider that Gabriel is developing very late in his career, especially because he still misses a few fundamentals of the game. But there is not a batter player to develop players such as the City Group academy.
Good player in a good team means results and I totally believe he can be very helpful in the future. Patience and minutes will be essential for him, which Deila can provide. U.S Open Cup might be a good opportunity to give him a chance.
I’d totally love to have a guy like him on my team, the “Joga Bonito” he has is a huge differential and a partnership with Talles and Taty can bring the New York City to a whole new level of skills.
Wish him all the luck in New York.
(Cover: Reprodução/Site NYCFC)
