Lloyd Scragg has spoken to the Portuguese football expert Jan Hagen to get the lowdown on Porto’s flying winger, Yacine Brahimi. Brahimi has been linked consistently with City in recent weeks, with The Guardian, the MEN and Talksport all reporting on City’s rumoured interest. Brahimi has been in excellent form over the last month. He was influential in helping his side win the Porto derby, coming off the bench with great effect, whilst only last week, he was man of the match in Porto’s humbling of FC Basel, seeing them progress to the last 8 of the Champions League.
1. What a year it has been for Yacine Brahimi. He was very impressive for Algeria in Brazil, helping his country progress to the second round of the World Cup for the first time in the their history, falling only to the eventual winners Germany in the last 16. His good form contributed somewhat to his eventual transfer to the Portuguese giants FC Porto, where he almost immediately announced himself on the biggest stage, scoring a stunning hat-trick against BATE Borisov in the Champions League. Yet, Brahimi was not done yet. He ended the year with bang, beating City’s own Yaya Toure to the title of BBC’s African Player of the Year 2014. However, despite his recent (somewhat) meteoric rise, how would you describe Brahimi for those City fans who haven’t really seen him play? What would you say his defining characteristics are?
Yacine Brahimi is a left winger, with great pace and astonishing dribbling skills. The way he combines these attributes makes him one of the world’s best dribblers, something he proved last year with Granada. He averaged 4.9 dribbles per game in La Liga last season, making him the no.1 dribbler in the league, ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. After two good seasons at Granada and a brilliant World Cup, he joined Porto last summer for a €6.5 million fee (Doyen Sport holds 80% of the player’s economic rights), and so far he has been a great success at Estádio do Dragão.
2. Aside from his eye-catching performance against BATE Borisov, how would you summarise Brahimi’s season thus far?
Brahimi was an immediate hit at Porto, scoring 4 goals and assisting 3 in his first 6 performances. He continued this amazing form, both domestically and in Europe, until he joined Algeria for the AFCON. After coming back he has had a dip in form, although scoring twice in two starts since his return to Portugal. In total the 25-year-old winger has 11 goals, 8 assists and several Man of the Match performances in 25 matches for Porto this season. He has been, alongside the Brazilian right-back Danilo and Colombian striker Jackson Martínez, Porto’s best player since his arrival in July.
3. Whilst Brahimi has evidently yet to complete his first season for the club, do you think he’s ready to move to one of Europe’s ‘elite’ clubs, so to speak?
The way Brahimi has been playing this season speaks for itself. He belongs in a bigger league than the Portuguese one, and especially his displays in Europe proves this. He has been great in the Primeira Liga, but it has been while playing Champions League football Brahimi has put on his best performances. The hat-trick vs BATE at home was magical, but the shift he put in vs Athletic Club away is unforgettable. He terrorized the poor Basques for the full 90 minutes, ending the match with a brilliant assist for Jackson Martínez and a goal for himself.
4. Despite City’s unprecedented wealth, the current Premier League champions are arguably the only ’top’ side in the division without a game-changing wide forward (Chelsea – Hazard, Arsenal – Sanchez, United – Di Maria, Liverpool – Sterling etc.), without an elite dribbler, so to speak. With that in mind, do you think Brahimi would fall into that aforementioned category, and would thus solve City’s problem?
If Manchester City are looking for an elite dribbler, Brahimi is their guy. When on top of his game, there’s no player in Portugal better than Brahimi. Nani, Nico Gaitán, Ricardo Quaresma and Eduardo Salvio are all quality wingers, but no one as good as the Algerian international. I don’t know if he’s in the Hazard/Sanchez mold, but he’s surely not far off.
5. Were Brahimi to make the move to Manchester, what do you think he’d give City that they haven’t already got? And do you think he’s worthy of commanding a starting berth over the likes of Nasri, or Navas for example?
Brahimi would bring a more goal scoring threat on the wing. He often switch between drifting inside, opening up space for the fullback, while trying to find an opening for either a pass or a raid, or going out wide, dribbling his way into the box, trying to pick out a cross. This makes him an unpredictable and difficult player to deal with. You never know what Brahimi will do next. It’s hard to say if he’d take a place in Manchester City’s line-up right away, but he’d give them something they doesn’t have today; a goal scoring winger.
We thank Jan for agreeing to take part in this interview. You can follow him on Twitter, @PortuBall.
