Why Manchester City must work out a way to stop Joelinton, the latest Samba superstar to graduate from Hoffenheim’s Brazilian recruitment programme

The striker is the latest product from a recruitment drive most famous for unearthing the man who now wears Liverpool’s number nine: Roberto Firmino

Manchester City struggled to stop Roberto Firmino last season, and on Tuesday night in Germany they will come up against another Brazilian striker hoping to follow the same path.

Joelinton is the powerful 22-year-old Brazilian who leads the line for Hoffenheim, and has been battering Bundesliga defences all season. He is also the latest product of Hoffenheim’s hugely successful Brazilian recruitment programme, which is most famous for unearthing from Brazilian Serie B the man who now wears Liverpool’s number nine.

It all started back in the summer of 2007 when Hoffenheim, still in the second tier of German football, identified two 20-year-olds in the Brazilian league to take them to the top. They signed Carlos Eduardo from Gremio for €7million and Luis Gustavo from Corinthians Alagoano initially on loan, before buying him for €1m.

Signing the pair was a huge success. They helped Hoffenheim to get promoted, both became Brazil internationals, both earned big profits. Carlos Eduardo was sold to Rubin Kazan for €20m in August 2010, and in Janaury 2011 Gustavo was sold to Bayern Munich for €15m. He is still playing at the top level for Marseille.

Hoffenheim is a club that does things differently and they are impressed with the trend those two started. “We have an interesting history with Brazilian players,” explained Hoffenheim’s head of international relations Lutz Pfannenstiel. “This players came from the Rogon agency, a German agency that is very well connected in Brazil. We look for young, unpolished talents, and want to get them very early. So we send our scouting team to analyse these boys. It has worked in an absolutely perfect way. Look at what they players were signed for, and how much they were sold for.”

The most famous graduate of this programme, of course, is Firmino. He was bought from Brazilian second tier side Figueirense for roughly €3m and then in 2015 he was sold to Liverpool for €41m. It is amazing to think, looking back, that he was seen by some as a bad signing in his first year at Anfield. Because he is now arguably the most important player on the best team in the country, and if Liverpool were to sell him, he would cost another nine-figure sum, just like they got for Philippe Coutinho.

Lutz Pfannenstiel

Will Joelinton become that good? Who knows. He is still just 22. But there is no doubting his obvious promise this season, and the sense that he is finally rewarding Hoffenheim’s faith. They found Joelinton three years ago – again through Rogon – playing for Sport Recife. Just a raw kid, who had never done anything in the Brazilian top flight, but who was worth taking a punt on.

It was not easy for Joelinton at first, and he suffered from acute homesickness, pining for a return to Brazil. Fortunately for him, Hoffenheim are now experts in helping their German imports to settle in the area. “He came from a beautiful hot beach area like Recife, and found himself miles away from family and friends,” explains Pfannenstiel.

“Everything is different – football, food, language, climate – and it its normal in the first period to miss your home. But we have a very good system in our club, [the Brazilian ex-goalkeeper] Cesar Their who looks after these guys, includes them in his family. It’s an integrational programme, and we get these boys integrated into the social life within, but also outside the club.”

Firmino made his name at the club (Bongarts/Getty)

So it was far from clear when Joelinton arrived that he was a signing that was going to work out. It took a two-year loan spell in Austria, playing for Rapid Vienna, for the striker to truly adapt to European football. Even then he only scored 15 goals in 60 Austrian Bundesliga games.

Going into this season, Joelinton’s position at the club was still unclear. But when he arrived for pre-season, something clicked. “Him and Nagelsmann were a perfect match,” Pfannenstiel says. “The Nagelsmann style of football – be intelligent, understand what he wants, trust and work – Joelinton picked it up extremely fast. You could see in pre-season, after a few days, that he really fits into that style.”

That style – hard but controlled pressing from the front – made the most of Joelinton’s physical attributes and his enthusiasm for the game. He started the season well, forcing his way into the team, and in the last few weeks he emphatically opened his account. Against Borussia Dortmund on 22 September he stole the ball on the edge of the box, gave himself space and slammed it into the bottom corner before Dortmund realised what had happened. It was a typical Joelinton goal.

Joelinton scored a memorable goal against Dortmund (Bongarts/Getty)

“Now he is used to European football, he is unbelievable,” Pfannenstiel says. “He is as strong as an ox, good in the air and he holds the ball well. He is a modern target striker. Not just a big man up front to hit balls up to. He has this Brazilian flair too, he is technically neat, he can take players on, as well as being fast and physical. He has everything to be a top player.”

Ultimately the comparison with Firmino is not perfect. Joelinton is more physical, more direct, more of a target man. He does not drop deep, turn, and play runners in like Firmino does. They are very different players, but they are on the same path.