Ricky van Wolfswinkel     22     Striker     Sporting CP

Sometimes you think that Europe’s biggest club’s have such tight scouting networks that it’s impossible for good players to slip by them on the cheap.

The truth is not quite so simple.  We enjoyed watching Woudenberg born Dutch striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s early forays for Vitesse and we got royally worked up more than once watching him positively strut around at Utrecht.  As 2010 closed, and with the January transfer window looming, van Wolfswinkel suffered an injury against Liverpool in the Europa League which kept him out of action until mid February and off the transfer menu.

This seemed a great shame, as the highly technical RvW (which we now insist on calling him) has the skills and goalscoring knack to light up any league.  Newcastle and Liverpool had sniffed, been startled by the injury and stepped back, but we expected another prolific bout of interest once the summer of 2011 arrived.

RvW more or less limped through the remainder of Utrecht’s Eredivisie season, clearly affected by his recent knock, but a brace on the final day against AZ Alkmaar served as a reminder of what he can do.

Dutch players move to Spain, they occasionally move to Germany and with the knowledge that an outrageously talented 20 year old forward was available for less than £5m, we just sort of assumed he’d end up in England....Lisbon was never an option.

But that’s how it went, and after a gentle easing in at Sporting, RvW has quickly highlighted just how good he is in the Liga ZON Sagres.  While it’s entirely conceivable that van Wolfswinkel could go on to score many a century of goals in Portugal, it’s more likely that he’ll move on again before long.  Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester United and AC Milan have all been linked in the last few weeks, perhaps a little shocked that the player slipped by them last year.

If they’d have asked, we’d have saved them the many millions of Euro’s they’ll have to find to one of Holland’s brightest talents.  He’s got it, and he’ll do well.

“The Portuguese press haven’t nicknamed him Iceman for nothing.  Cool, calm and a clinical finisher, RvW has filled the hole at Sporting left by Liedson’s departure.” – Ben Shave (Portugoal.net)

C+      Just keep going.