Gold Coast United’s inaugural season in the Hyundai A-League has been given a boost with the arrival of Brazilian trio Milson, Robson and Jefferson over the weekend.
The three players, who caught the eye of Coach Miron Bleiberg during a recent trip to South America, were introduced to their team-mates for the first time on Monday, while shaking off their jetlag at training.
Thirty-one-year-old striker Milson (Milson dos Santos) and attacking midfielder Jefferson (Jefferson de Souza Pinto) will link up with former Brazil Under-17 representative Robson (Robson da Silva) in a combination Bleiberg said will add diversity and flexibility to the side.
“We are looking for all three to combine well with our squad … Robson is a tough defensive midfielder who is very physically strong and a very good tackler and Jefferson is more of an all-rounder in the middle of the field,” he said.
“Then there’s Milson who is an experienced centre-forward with excellent aerial strength, but also a delicate touch. He can play as an out-and-out striker or in behind the strikers, so again we have that flexibility with him.”
Learning from the mistakes made by Melbourne Victory’s recruitment of the ‘Trio from Rio’ (Allesandro, Cluadinho and Fred), in which two of the players got homesick and returned to Brazil, Bleiberg said assimilating the players into the squad and settling them into their new lifestyle is his initial focus.
“The first job is to get them settled into life on the Gold Coast as quickly as possible,” he said.
For veteran striker Milson, settling in appears to be no problem.
“He told us the Gold Coast was beautiful and it is absolutely beautiful; even more beautiful than I expected,” he grinned.
“We’re really happy to be here in Australia and we hope to be able to deliver good performances for the team because we know there is expectation on Brazilian players.”
While Milson managed to speak in English for some of his media interview, language difficulties still exist for the trio, in particular Jefferson and Robson.
However, 27 year-old midfielder Jefferson told reporters via an interpreter that he didn’t expect the language barrier to present any long-term difficulties.
“In the beginning the club has arranged for a few people to help out with translation, but over time Robson and I will learn to speak English,” he said.
“Anyway, the language of football is universal and I will definitely be able to communicate on the field.”
Bleiberg expects to give all three players some game time, albeit limited, when United take on local outfit Southport in a training match at Ashmore Village Park on Tuesday night.
