South Americans in Coca Cola Championship – part II

We continue with our analysis of the mostly anonymous players from South America which have decided to test their luck playing in Coca Cola Championship. Judging from the first part of our story, it appears that keepers have took root in this league, since the Brazilian Adriano Basso from Bristol City and Argentine Julian Speroni from Crystal Palace are indeed two excellent goalies that could easily take their chance in Premier League.

Another goalie from the Championship, who is also the ‘numero Uno’ of the Peruvian national team, is Burnley’s Diego Penny. Over the last couple of seasons Burnley are paying a great deal of attention to the keepers: famous Hungarian Gabor Kiraly played for them, while the first choice at this time is the fabulous keeper who stood between the posts before Kiraly arrived, Brian Jensen. That is why there will be no room for unfortunate Penny unless the excellent Jensen pick an injury. He stood on the goal line only once for Clarets this season, in the opener when Sheffield Wednesday swept them 4-1.

Federico Bessone

Three Argentineans are next. Federico Bessone is one of those who are not the first picks with their managers. Currently, he is more off than on in Swansea City where he arrived from Spanish Espanol this summer. He wasn’t really under the spotlights there also, so he was loaned to Gimnastic last season. Federico has got the Italian passport, so he doesn’t need to worry about the working permit, which is, by the way, the main reason why there aren’t so many players coming to Championship from the most famous football continent.

Emanuel Villa came to Derby County this summer from Argentine UAG Tecos for 2 million pounds as the huge boost in Rams’ desperate effort to somehow regain their Premier League status. However, although he had the reputation of the classy striker, he blended in the gloomy team, continuing to go deep even in the Championship. Anyway, there is one interesting fact connected with his move. Tecos’ coach at the time, famous Luis Cezar Menotti being uninformed of the sale of his best player, resigned and isn’t in the coaching business anymore. Paul Jewel is mostly playing him on from the bench, and he scored only 4 goals in 28 games he played for the Rams so far.

Possibly the best, but definitely one with the brightest prospect in the Championship is 20-year-old QPR midfielder, Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma, another Argentinean. Italian side Genoa loaned him this summer so that he would gain the required experience, but it didn’t take him long to become the best midfielder and the most popular player in the team. In one of his first games, against Carlisle United in Carling Cup, the lad scored a hat-trick thus becoming the main topic of all the chants and the fans wear shirts with his face on them. However, the fact he is merely a loaned player could mean his episode in England could be of short breath.

As you can see, biggest obstacle for South Americans is the working permit and the fact they are non-EU players. On the other hand, teams from Championship have been filled with Hungarian, Polish and Czech players lately, who are all cheaper than residents, and easier to get the permit. At the end, all we can say is that there is too much of a difference between this league and the Premiership.

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