Gonzalo Higuain - Players to watch in South Africa

Written by Dave Allan Thursday, 03 June 2010 07:36

England World Cup Blog

Gonzalo Gerardo Higuain was actually born in Brest, France on December 10th 1987 and although eligible to play for the country of his birth opted instead to play for Argentina. Higuain was actually offered a squad number with France and could have turned out for Les Bleus with the number 20 on his back.

Higuain had started his career in Argentina with River Plate where his manager Daniel Passarella had made it clear he had an “enormous future “ahead of him and as a young striker he hit the ground running with 15 goals in 32 appearances.

His move to Real Madrid seemed to vindicate what his first manager thought of him and the biggest club in the World will probably be delighted with his return of a goal every other game after 110 appearances.

Basic stats about Higuain tell only a little of his more recent story. Everybody might agree that the 22 year old is a brilliant player but he has been eclipsed at the Bernabeu by a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. This has resulted in his style changing and this season it has been rather painful to watch him take on one player too many in a bid to score an even better goal than his illustrious teammate. For the sake of Ronaldo and Higuain the appointment of Jose Mourinho at club level could prove to be vital as he is the one manager who is bigger than any reputations on the pitch.

Diego Maradona his international coach has bowed to pressure to play Higuain and this again seems to be a battle of super egos. Perhaps Higuain would do better to emulate International teammate Lionel Messi rather than Cristiano Ronaldo, but either way this young man is only a shade away from these two in terms of talent. If Gonzalo can learn the art of team play he will be a massive star in the tournament.
 

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