Boy wonder: Brazilian phenom, 9, catching attention of pro teams
I suppose it was just a matter of time before greed and competitiveness drove us to these depths. Now we have professional sports franchises chasing…wait for it…NINE-YEAR-OLD BOYS?!?
It is difficult to imagine, much less justify, attempting to cut short the childhood of a nine-year-old boy- no matter how talented. I look at the picture of young Jean Carlos Chera, and I see a young boy who should be out playing in a tree house (or whatever it is that young boys do in Brazil) with his friends. This is just plain wrong….
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — At this rate, sonograms will become a soccer recruiting tool pretty soon.
Jean Carlos Chera, a 9-year-old who is 4-foot-6, is attracting interest from Manchester United and other top European teams. Chera, who weighs 77 pounds, currently plays for the youth teams of Associacao Desportiva Atletica, a small club in the southern Brazilian state of Parana.
“Seven or eight European clubs have already contacted us to know more about Jean,” team president Adilson Batista Prado said in a telephone interview Thursday. “They want to know what he is all about, and I tell them he’s a phenomenon, probably the best player to come out of Brazil.”
Prado and team officials would not identify all the clubs interested in Jean, but confirmed that representatives of Manchester United have asked for videotapes of his matches.
Prado said teams from Portugal, France and Germany have made contact, and local media identified FC Porto as one of the teams.
The club said the European clubs haven’t made official offers yet, but some have asked for permission to send representatives, and others have invited the midfielder and his family to go to Europe.
Have we reached the point where we can no longer allow a child to be just that- a snot-nosed kid, terrorizing the neighborhood with his friends? Do we have to begin trying to plan a child’s career out for him or her when they’re still years away from puberty?
Of course, on the one hand, it is truly phenomenal that a child so young can capture the imagination of so many with his skill. On the other, it’s terrifying that so many want to make Chera the Next Big Thing before he’s even begun growing pubic hair or had his first date.
At least the president of his football club recognizes the need to allow Chera to be a child. Would that the rest of the jackals drooling over him could demonstrate such class and self-control.
