Football Dissected

Real Madrid have reportedly been after Kaká. Chelsea have reportedly been after wonderman Ronaldinho. But what about Daniel Carvalho? There can be no doubt that Carvalho isn't in the same league as Kaká and Ronaldinho, but, with only being 24, he has huge potential.

The first time I saw him, in the 2005 Uefa Cup final against Sporting Lisbon, I truly believed he was something special. He was brilliant in that match and was undoubtedly the key to CSKA Moscow winning the cup. He picked up the Man of the Match award for that final since he was involved in all of CSKA's 3 goals. Since then his career has gone upwards - slightly. Since joining CSKA Moscow in 2004 from Brazil's Internacional, Carvalho has gone onto score over 20 goals in over 80 appearances for the Russian outfit. He also became the first foreign player to be named Russian Footballer of the Year in 2005. So why have no big European clubs come in for him?

There can be no doubt that the quality of Russian Premier League is no where near the quality of the main European leagues (e.g. La Liga, the Barclays Premiership etc.). But regardless of that Carvalho has become one of the best players in Russia and he's also shown he can play in Europe. This season hasn't been the best advertisement for Carvalho seeing as CSKA sit on the bottom of Champions League Group G with no points after 3 games. Yet Carvalho isn't titleless. The titles he's won include:

• FIFA World Youth Championship - Winner: 2003
• Russian Premier League - Runner-Up: 2004
• Russian Premier League - Winner: 2005
• UEFA Cup - Winner: 2005
• UEFA Super Cup - Runner-Up: 2005
• Russian Cup - Winner: 2004/2005, 2005/2006
• Russian Super Cup - Winner: 2004, 2006, 2007

Carvalho would be the ideal buy for any team. He's strong, a great passer, and has one of the most powerful left foots I've ever seen. CSKA probably won't let him go on the cheap, but he probably won't cost the £50 to £60 million which Kaká and Ronaldinho have on their heads.

With that being said, there's still one more reason Carvalho may not have been picked up yet by a big European club. And that reason is - money. Over recent years, "new" money has been pouring into Russian football due to the economic boom Russia had started to experience. Yet now may be the time for Daniel Carvalho to move on. He's followed the money, now maybe it's time he followed the challenge - the challenge of being one of the best that is found in Europe.