A balompie ride to the top - João Lucas de Souza Cardoso (Johnny) at Real Betis

Fasten your seatbelt, it's going to be a balompié ride.

 

No, Tim. Not this morning. It's Monday.

 

I agree with you (besides the possible Holden comparison).

Many of our guys who transfer to those leagues do so from MLS. Going from an established player for a respectable club in the Brazilian top division to La Liga is a different equation—the competitive gap is smaller. There's a history of successful transfers from the Brazilian Serie A to La Liga.

 

Sure. BUT, the transfer fee was reported to be about 6 million $ with a 20% cut of a future transfer fee. He is outplaying that, so far, by a truly massive amount. There is, methinks, cause for the wild excitement among USMNT fans here. This is La Liga!

 

I think 15th - Paxten scored earlier in the day, but is that counting NL (UEFA coefficient) or France (traditional) in the top 5?

 

On current rankings, France is top 5 by either metric.

 

Well let's count top 6 so we can get to 20 scorers (Dest, Tillman, Pepi, Booth and Aaronson, I believe, in Eredivisie)

 

Guess you didn't see the Tweet from Tactical Manager. Big clubs are already interested.

If he keeps playing like this, he won't be at Betis for long.

 

That would be correct. I do not have a twitter account.

 

Hey, we need to jump on this while we can in case he slows down. How many chances do we get like this? We can tear him down later like we do everyone else.

 

Adams did surprisingly well at Leipzig when he first joined before he had his first real injury.

 

FYP. Seems almost unfair, though, to compare Johnny with other U23s.

 

Not like there's any real under 23 year olds of note in La Liga

 

Starts

💚🤍💚

¡Nuestro once inicial para el #AtletiRealBetis!#DíaDeBetis pic.twitter.com/gJVHIde1x8

— Real Betis Balompié 🌴💚 (@RealBetis) March 3, 2024

 

Nice, planning to watch him for the first time since his move to La Liga.

 

It's going to be a good game. Atletico Madrid is one of my favorite La Liga teams. This will be another good test for Johnny.

 

“The fact is that Johnny's rise has been meteoric…he not only has high physical performances, but mentally is a strong player to withstand the pressure of a club of maximum demand on and off the field. Despite his 22 years of age, he thinks like a veteran.” https://t.co/ZGPW62x6pZ

— Daniel (@DanielSmith1022) March 3, 2024

 

Assist for Cardoso against Atletico Madrid. Wins the ball high up the pitch, and lays it off to Carvalho who scores from outside the box. Hes having another really good game, especially in this second half so far.

 

Johnny is a fantastic talent. He plays the 6 very differently than Adams. He is skillful and tries to anticipate the play and step in to intercept. He also passes very well!

 

Another good game for Johnny.

 

Definitely impressed watching Johnny for the first time in La Liga. Quiet 1st half but very good in 2nd.

He's not an Energizer bunny like Mckennie or Adams, just tends to float into the right spaces.

Plays more like LDLT but with a few extra inches of height and 15 more pounds of muscle. Probably not as quick but can definitely win a tackle and shield the ball well.

 

I can see him scoring 1 or 2 more goals this season. He was alone at the top of the box, 3 times in this game but only once did his teammates pass the ball to him.