Should Hulk have had a better career?

horsechoker

The Caf's Roy Keane.
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
Messages
52,197
Location
The stable
After Porto his playing career seems underwhelming for someone of his talent. He wasn't world class by any means but surely he could have done better than Racist St. Petersburg and playing in China.

He was surely good enough to play for a Europa League level premier league side or back up for one of the top 4.
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
Brazilians that come from very little seem quite content with becoming insanely rich - and I can't say I blame him.

Could he have done more at the top level? sure, will he care about it when he retires swimming in money? probably not.

I do remember back in the day he was heavily linked with a move to Chelsea under AVB I think it was, could have been interesting.
 

The White Pele

Full Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
4,948
Possibly yes. He showed extreme potential but I don’t think he performed to his best in the Infinity War and didn’t have as decorated a career as Iron Man or Captain America despite having greater strength.
 

FootballHQ

Full Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Messages
18,254
Supports
Aston Villa
Not really.

Guy was never balon D'or contender based on ability. Played many years in champions league and played for Brazil in their home World cup so he did alright for himself. Interesting if he regrets staying at Porto and not testing himself in one of the major euro leagues as sure he had offers in some of his best seasons.

From that era the obvious player is Alex Pato surely? Boy wonder at 18 in the years before Neymar came onto the scene and started off incredibly at AC Milan aswell. Then when 27 he was having generally forgettable loan spells at likes of Chelsea.

Even now I think he's only 32 so that's a world class career that got away.
 

golden_blunder

Site admin. Manchester United fan
Staff
Joined
Jun 1, 2000
Messages
119,966
Location
Dublin, Ireland
FootballHQ said:
Not really.

Guy was never balon D'or contender based on ability. Played many years in champions league and played for Brazil in their home World cup so he did alright for himself. Interesting if he regrets staying at Porto and not testing himself in one of the major euro leagues as sure he had offers in some of his best seasons.

From that era the obvious player is Alex Pato surely? Boy wonder at 18 in the years before Neymar came onto the scene and started off incredibly at AC Milan aswell. Then when 27 he was having generally forgettable loan spells at likes of Chelsea.

Even now I think he's only 32 so that's a world class career that got away.
Click to expand...
Pato was beaten by injuries not by wasting his career
 

Brophs

The One and Only
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
50,444
He’s having a baby with his niece. What have you ever done?
 

Bondi77

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
7,308
I would have loved to have seen him have a tear up with Superman.....would have been Epic!
 

horsechoker

The Caf's Roy Keane.
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
Messages
52,197
Location
The stable
b82REZ said:
Adriano was a bigger talent than Hulk.
Click to expand...
He was arguably on the right track until his father died. It doesn't seem to me that Hulk suffered any major setbacks and I know he wasn't World Class, just very good at times.
 

RUCK4444

New Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Messages
9,553
Location
$¥$¥$¥$¥$
I think the fact he spent so long at Zenit and Shanghai and not at top level clubs shows that he has never really been a top level player.

Just a powerful runner and a hammer of a shot that more often than not ends up row z. Never, ever saw what the hype was about tbh.
 

b82REZ

Full Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
9,350
Location
Manchester
horsechoker said:
He was arguably on the right track until his father died. It doesn't seem to me that Hulk suffered any major setbacks and I know he wasn't World Class, just very good at times.
Click to expand...
Didn't know about his dad.

He seemed to disappear off the face of the earth after Inter, after previously looking like the heir apparent to R9.
 

pacifictheme

Full Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
7,726
FootballHQ said:
Not really.

Guy was never balon D'or contender based on ability. Played many years in champions league and played for Brazil in their home World cup so he did alright for himself. Interesting if he regrets staying at Porto and not testing himself in one of the major euro leagues as sure he had offers in some of his best seasons.

From that era the obvious player is Alex Pato surely? Boy wonder at 18 in the years before Neymar came onto the scene and started off incredibly at AC Milan aswell. Then when 27 he was having generally forgettable loan spells at likes of Chelsea.

Even now I think he's only 32 so that's a world class career that got away.
Click to expand...
Remember when pato was young Chelsea were linked with him and I thought feck if they get him we are screwed.

By the time they did get him it was much more of a ha pato vibe.

Career down the toilet for sure.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
28,027
Location
Moscow
He is a player who needs full creative freedom on the pitch but he wasn't good enough to justify having such a role in a big club. So the choice was either to go to a big club in a small league (in Zenit's case — tons of money, regular CL participation, domestic titles) or to go to a mid-table/upper mid-table club in a better league, probably losing out on money, certainly losing out in titles etc.

Those who chose the latter path usually do it as a stepping stone — if you prove yourself in this league you can get an offer from a better team. But I think at that point Hulk realistically assessed his chances of getting signed for a big club (not very likely) and chose an easier option.

In hindsight, maybe signing for one of Italy's big clubs in a crisis would be his best bet, but I'm not sure if they were interested at that time.
 

horsechoker

The Caf's Roy Keane.
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
Messages
52,197
Location
The stable
b82REZ said:
Didn't know about his dad.

He seemed to disappear off the face of the earth after Inter, after previously looking like the heir apparent to R9.
Click to expand...
He completely went off the rails after his father died. Not really sure if anything could have been done to help him at the time or if teams could manage the situation nowadays but he very much looked like R9 2.0
 

Tom Cato

Godt nyttår!
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
7,582
horsechoker said:
After Porto his playing career seems underwhelming for someone of his talent. He wasn't world class by any means but surely he could have done better than Racist St. Petersburg and playing in China.

He was surely good enough to play for a Europa League level premier league side or back up for one of the top 4.
Click to expand...
He followed the money, I think sporting success was of secondary importance to him. Fair play, he's wealthy.
 

André Dominguez

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
6,374
Location
Lisbon
Supports
Benfica, Académica
He could had easilly a better career. Not in top clubs, but could had been handy for Everton or Spurs. Can't really blame him, since at Zenit he was one of Europe's best paid player, and he won tons of money at China.

If you take a look on his career by wages perspective, it was very sucessful, though.
 

Dave Smith

Full Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2019
Messages
2,516
Supports
Anything anti-Dipper
Hulk was always a limited player with fantastic athletic ability. He wasn't ever cut out for the top imo. As others have mentioned, Pato and Adriano are much better examples of unfullied potential/ability.
 

AaronRedDevil

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2018
Messages
9,567
Had he went to Chelsea that time instead of China. He’d be a PL & CL winner and maybe more. He was a beast. But he chose money and I can’t fault him for that. Even though I think eventually he’d still be rich as hell, only slightly less.
 

Piratesoup

Full Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2013
Messages
6,939
Supports
Bayern München
He was always a meme player because of his bulk and that monstrous shot, but he was never a first class player. Financially he got the most possible out of his carreer by going to China, so I think he did alright.
 

tomaldinho1

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
17,748
Porto to Zenit to Shangahi reveals what his focus was on to be honest. Could he have won more, probably but then you can say that for many players.

His legacy reminds me a bit of Quaresma, not stylistically or stats-wise, but in that I remember for years being convinced he was this incredible player who could be amazing for United. Basically I never watched him regularly and was uninformed (and would assume the same for most on her commenting on Hulk) outside of the CL and internationals. Maybe he was incredible but I suspect he was a good player who probably wouldn't have cut it at the very top.
 

Wonder Pigeon

'Shelbourne FC Supporter'
Joined
Apr 8, 2006
Messages
21,624
Location
Forza Shelbourne
Supports
Shelbourne
I don't really class Hulk in with the "top talent, squandered it" Brazilian players, more so the high end of the nomad, globetrotting ones. He was playing in Japan before Porto after all. I do wonder if fans would have taken as much notice of him if he had 'Givanildo' on the back of his shirt.
 

kthanksbye

Full Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
1,503
Football at the moment is at a point where it requires a very specific list of criteria for a player to shine, an exceptionally talented individual may win you a few games here and there but in order to get the best out of them the primary requirement is how much the player is ready to push himself. If you’re not going to put in the hard yards and be disciplined tactically, most top flight teams are capable of dealing with a talented player and nullify them more often than not.

Then there’s the coaching aspect, it doesn’t matter how talented a player is, but if the coaching and the system is not going to create situations for them to excel in, they’ll look like any other player on the pitch.

Not every player has all the determination and commitment, coupled with the right manager/setup to get the best out of them.
 

Oranges038

Full Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2020
Messages
12,156
He had talent, but you just never new which player was going to show up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.