There seems to be a certain type of player that develops a sort of cult following amongst many football fans. They're the sort of player that you can love even though they have never played for the team you support or have any connection to your club or national team. You could like them because they are ridiculously skillful, their passion, the scorer of 'special' goals or even because they have 'a bit' of a temper. They don't even have to be particularly good. I thought I'd write about some of these players that I particularly like over the next few days.
DJALMINHA
Djalminha falls into the category of ridiculously skillful. I think he may be one of the lesser known on my list. For a quick bit of background he was a Brazilian attacking midfielder who I always think of as playing for Deportivo La Coruna (1997-2004). He was also a bit of a handful to manage going by the stories that came out about him towards the end of his time at Depor but if you look up his Youtube highlights you will see how blessed with skills he was. He was a key member of the 2000 La Liga winning Depor side and also won the Spanish cup the following season but after one particular training ground incident in 2002, where he was rumoured to have headbutted manager Irureta, the end of his time at Depor was near. He was loaned out to Austria Wien before being released shortly after. He was a player who never tried the simple ball and loved an opportunity to take on multiple opponents if it was possible. Flick, tricks and arguing is always how I think of him. This may be skewed a bit by his record on an old Championship Manager game where he changed clubs every season after playing only a handful of games.
I think that is probably the reason I like him so much. Amazingly talented and great to watch but you'd probably never want him to play for your team. Inconsistent and confrontational would drive you crazy if you were losing but if you were winning and felt like showboating Djalminha is your man.
