In some ways, Sergio Aguero and Alexandre Pato are a lot alike.
Aguero and Pato are just over a year apart in age. They each starred at the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada and made moves to Europe within 15 months of one another. Hybrid forwards, both can play almost anywhere in the attack. Their body-types are almost identical.
But the comparisons end there.
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Aguero, 25, has been the subject of €68 million in transfer fees, and this August kicked off his third season at Manchester City. He already has a Premier League title to his name and is only two goals shy of 50 in all competitions for the English club.
Pato, 24, is about three-quarters through his first season in Brazil after returning to his homeland following parts of six, mostly frustrating seasons at AC Milan. He has a high-profile divorce under his belt and has dropped off the radar for many fans who only follow the European game.
As hard as it is to believe, Aguero and Pato were once inseparable when discussing young, up-and-coming talent from South America. And Pato, for a time, might even have been the more highly-rated of the two. A prodigy at Porto Alegre-based Internacional, he helped the club to a win over Barcelona in the FIFA Club World Cup and also got his hands on the Recopa Sudamericana before agreeing a switch to the San Siro in August 2007.
Six years on, however, Pato and Agureo are very much separable — something that’s mostly down to the Brazilian’s descent from can’t-miss prospect to injury-prone forward in need of a change of scenery. He got that change last January, and while the road hasn’t been easy it’s at least proven to have been worth the journey.
At the time of his Milan exit Pato was in desperate need of first-team football following a series of knocks that had seriously hampered his development. Between February 2008 and his €15 million switch to Corinthians he had sustained no fewer than 10 muscle or bone injuries — many of which had cost him months in rehabilitation time.
Corinthians, who had just won the FIFA Club World Cup after beating Chelsea in Japan, offered the chance of regular minutes at a top club in a competitive league, but Pato was no doubt swayed into the move at least in part by the level of expertise among the Sao Paulo club’s physiotherapists.
As Tim Vickery wrote for the BBC at the time, Brazilian specialists are widely held as among the “best in the business,” as exemplified by the almost miraculous rehabilitations of Ronaldo and Rivaldo in advance of the 2002 World Cup.
Paulo Paixao was in charge of physical preparation in the run-up to that tournament, and it was he whom Pato will have worked with during his stint with the national team over the last couple of weeks.
Having come out of his shell following a bit of a transition period at Corinthians, Pato earned his spot with the Braziil’s national team based on current form, and he repaid the faith of manager Luiz Felipe Scolari with a goal against Australia on Sept. 7. It was his first international goal in more than a year.
“This is what I have been wanting since I came back to Brazil,” Pato remarked after being asked about his pair of appearances against both the Socceroos and Portugal.
“Unfortunately there have been some pauses, some injuries that didn’t allow me to show my best form. But now I’m back and I’m going to try to hold onto my place until the World Cup.”
While Pato was scoring against Australia, Aguero was helping propel Argentina into the World Cup with a goal in a 5-2 win over Paraguay that clinched their place in the competition. It was his 19th goal in an already-impressive international career that will surpass 50 caps before the tournament begins.
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Upon arriving back in Manchester Aguero remarked that, “with luck,” City could get as far as the Champions League final, and if he hits an extended purple patch of form they’ll stand as good a chance as many sides to do just that.
His are the lofty ambitions of a player for whom it has all come together. Pato’s, on the other hand, has been a rather bumpier ride.
But the gulf between them that widened last January appears to be narrowing; before long they could once again come up in those old conversations.
They may well cross paths again at the 2014 World Cup — not quite inseparable in comparison, but not far off, either.
Jerrad Peters is a Winnipeg-based writer. Follow him on Twitter.