João Mário Eduardo

Date of Birth	Nationality	Current Club	Position	Strengths		Weaknesses	Transfer Rumours	Market Value	Similar Players
				Physical	Technical
19/1/1993	Portuguese	Sporting CP	CM	-	Ball Control, Passing, First Touch, Vision	Aerial	-	2m Euros	Joao Moutinho

Joao Mario is a 20-year-old player who plays for Sporting Club de Portugal as a Center Midfielder. He had a short spell at FC Porto when he was younger finally moving to Sporting at the age of 10. At Sporting he slowly moved up the youth ranks. 2010 he was finally promoted to the Sporting U-19 team and in 2011 he was made captain of the team. It was during the 2011/2012 season that he made his debut for the First team. He featured in 15 minutes of a Europa League match against Lazio on the 14^th of December 2011. He continued to play for the U19 team that season before finally being promoted to the Sporting B team who plays in the Segunda Division for the 2012/2013 season. He trained regularly with the First Team however only managed to make 1 appearance in the league coming on as a substitute against Maritimo on 10^th February 2013. His performances in the Sporting B team, however, were a good window into the type of player that he is. He started 30 matches for the team providing 11 assists and scoring 1 goal. He was an instrumental player for the team providing the link from defence to attack. On a national level he has featured in most of the Portuguese youth teams recently playing in the Under 20 World Cup. He was a key member of the side and provided 2 assists in the 4 matches he played.

Joao Mario is a player with great technical skills. You can see this through his great passing ability. He has great vision and can deliver a long or short pass with great accuracy. He enjoys the freedom in midfield which allows him to pull the strings and provide the right pass. Although he is more attacking minded, he plays more central and therefore gives him time on the ball to make the forward passes to the attackers. Besides that, he has great ball control and first touches which allows him to create the space required to make the passes. He is a good decision maker on the ball and rarely puts a foot wrong. However, he does have some weaknesses. The most obvious being his ability to challenge for aerial balls. Due to his height he finds it difficult to challenge for balls in the air. Another weakness is his set of defensive skills. Although at times he can give a good game defensively, he lacks the discipline when it comes to the defensive phases of play. This is where he differs from Joao Moutinho (who I have likened him with). He doesn’t show the same discipline, determination and concentration in defence as he does during the attacking plays. Playing in the CM role, it is important for him to contribute to both the attacking and defensive phases of play. However, as seen in the U20 world cup, there are times where he lacks that discipline and isn’t able to make quick decisions when it comes to the defence. However, that being said, an increase in playing time and training with the first team will definitely provide him with that experience. Although he hasn’t featured much for the first team, I feel this may be his breakout season. A player who definitely possesses alot of talent, he needs to be carefully trained and managed in order to get the best out of him. I look forward to seeing him play for the First Team more often, and maybe he will gain a national team call up in the process.