Young player profile: Elano Blumer

Name: Elano Blumer
Age: 25
Position: Attacking midfielder
Club: Shaktar Donestk
Country: Brazil

This is Elano Blumer, or as all great Brazilians are better known, just Elano. He's the guy who scored two goals against Argentina in Brazil's 3-0 friendly win recently. Prior to that game, he had only played three times for Brazil, so it's an awesome record for him, especially with the goals coming in an el classico game.

Elano is an attacking right sided midfielder who can also play in the middle. His physical game also means that he has filled the defensive midfield gap at club level. He is right-footed, which when coupled with some rumours that call him "the next Beckham" seems to create for us the picture of a... well, Beckham who tackles hard. The similarities don't end there - Elano is somewhat of a deadball specialist, with freekicks and penalties often falling at his feet. To cap it off, he wore number 7 for Brazil the other day.

While his attributes are merely words to describe till you see him in action, the fact that he wears a fashionable number in the Brazil team hints that manager Dunga rates him as something of a valued first teamer. Strange, considering that up until two weeks ago, the Brazilian team picked itself and this 25 year old was a nobody plying his trade in Ukraine. But Dunga, who knew him from their days in Santos, really does fancy him, and in one interview, referred to Elano as a "key player" in his team. "He's the kind of player who seldom gives the ball away and an example for young players looking for a chance," Dunga said elsewhere.

To add dimension to this young man, Elano possesses a fearsome shot from distance: plough your way through Brazil's and any number of Shaktar Donestk's match reports and count the number of times Elano's name appears in the same sentence as words like "screamer", long-range", "bolt" and "35 yards" and it gives you a deeper understanding of how this guy plays. (Incidentally, you might soon have to plough through AC Milan's match reports too - word on the street says that the Rossoneri are after him!)

But what does it mean for Elano to break into a Brazil midfield already choking with stars? In the game against Argentina, Elano scored both goals after interplay with Robinho and Kaka respectively, suggesting that his inclusion into the midfield compliments rather than unhinges the work of his more illustrious compatriots. After a world cup where Brazil looked lazy and disjointed, this can only be good news for the man they call Elano Blumer.

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