He has not yet made Marco Verratti forget at PSG, but he is on the right track to do so. While he constantly juggled between the sidelines and tenures until the end of November 2023, Vitinha became in a few months the cornerstone of PSG and Luis Enrique’s system. As proof, the 24-year-old Portuguese is the second most used outfield player (3,109 minutes played) by the Spanish coach, behind Kylian Mbappé (3,374 minutes).
Imagining him behind the star Mbappé was, however, far from being obvious if we look in the rearview mirror, a year ago. After a mixed first year in the capital, rightly criticized for his lack of character, Vitinha was even taken aback by the Messi clan and, above all, by Neymar. “He was odious towards Vitinha. The Portuguese denied it, because he is nice and didn’t want any problems, but on several occasions he was insulted.”a witness told The Team .
“Vitinha adapts perfectly to what we are looking for”
The departures of Messi and Neymar have obviously done the greatest good for Vitinha, who has become indispensable in the Parisian midfield. As brilliant in the sentry position as in a relay position, the former Porto player is endowed with very valuable versatility for PSG. “Vitinha is a player who adapts perfectly to what we are looking for, to our idea of play, he is versatile, he does not lose the ball. He is complete with and without the ball, he also plays according to his teammates,” had confided, on March 9, Luis Enrique, who appreciates the technical ease, mobility and ability to get rid of opposing pressure of the Portuguese.
The PSG coach would also be very impressed by Vitinha’s ability to string together high-intensity matches without getting injured and with the same quality of play. “He has unlimited energy. He wants to train with those who didn’t play the next day, said the Spanish technician. “Vitinha takes on an extraordinary dimension. Everything he does is impressive. With his intelligence, his aggressiveness, his vision, he is a super sentinel. The first thing I look at in a midfielder is whether he always wants the ball. This is his case,” deciphered for So Foot Didier Domi, left side trained at PSG.
Internally, Vitinha asserts itself more and more
Good defensively and also capable of scoring goals, Vitinha also takes up more space in the locker room over time. Completely erased during his first year in Paris, the 24-year-old is today “capable of bringing contradiction when he disagrees”, relates The Parisian also speaking of a “everyday application” Portuguese and a “assertive character”.
The PSG midfielder, who would have wanted to be a coach if he had not made it as a player, lives, talks and eats football almost every day. A lover of tactics and a fan of Andres Iniesta, Vitinha regularly debriefs meetings with his trainer Luis Enrique, even going back to certain very specific gestures.
Discreet in life, “far from the star system”specifies his sister ParisianVitinha today has the spotlight on him because of his leading role in the current success of PSG, which has just been crowned champion of France.
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But Luis Enrique still sees room for improvement in his new “favorite”. “ We are very demanding of him and we think he can still improve, score more goals (9 goals, 5 assists) », estimated the Spaniard. And if Vitinha still has some left under his belt, Paris may have a very big future there.
