Vitinha, what is it worth? 3 essential facts to know!

A new reinforcement for Olympique de Marseille, Vitinha has established himself over the years as one of the rising stars of Portuguese football.

After the Ukrainian Ruslan Malinovskyi and the Moroccan Azzedine Ounahi, Olympique de Marseille has concluded a high-end transfer window by securing the services of the young Portuguese striker Vitinha. A record operation for OM, which spent more than 30 million euros to attract this 22-year-old striker. So what is the rookie from the Marseille club really worth?

A complete and very combative attacker

Portuguese football specialist Nicolas Vilas revealed some key points on Vitinha’s profile in After Foot, on RMC. For the journalist, the striker recruited from Braga has a very complete palette, with and without the ball. ” He is a player who is good with both feet, who is good with his head as well. Very, very active in front, insisted Nicolas Vilas. If I am an OM defender, I see Alexis Sanchez and Vitinha in front of me, I tell myself that we will have to take care of the reminders because these guys are going to go for it! You have to look at his heat map, it’s quite impressive. He plays more to the left because at Braga he was the left forward, but he can play 9, or 9 and a half. He’s a pretty complete player. »

Read also – 24hfootnews: Vitinha at OM, the scandalous figures

Great references in the Europa League, but an unknown at the highest level

“For Vitinha, there is this famous expression: is it a crack or not?, wondered the host of After Foot. I would say that on the scale of Braga, it is a crack. But he will leave his cocoon for the first time. He will discover a new universe. He does not know Ligue 1, the culture, the championship, the Champions League. But he had very good statistics in the Europa League (4 goals in 5 appearances with Braga this season, editor’s note). Afterwards, there will be an expectation which is linked to its price, even if nothing can be done about it. »

The question: the pressure of the Marseille environment

For Nicolas Vilas, the main question will lie in Vitinha’s ability to withstand the pressure of the Marseille environment. “The reality is not the same, he warned. Earlier I was listening to a press conference by Rúben Amorim, the coach of Sporting, and he was asked about the transfer window and the fact that Sporting is behind Braga in the standings. And he said: “The difference between a Braga player and a Sporting player is that he doesn’t have half the pressure he would have at Sporting”. And tell yourself that there he is not going to be at Sporting, he is going to be at OM, which is a club where there is total irrationality, where there has been no title for 10 years, and where the guys expect results all the time. So it’s going to be difficult for OM supporters to hear, but it’s going to take patience for a guy you paid more than 30 million euros. The message got through.