Kleberson’s Ill-Fated Spell at Manchester United: A World Champion’s Journey

Kleberson signed for United in 2003 and was introduced by Sir Alex Ferguson alongside Cristiano Ronaldo

Roy Keane, Manchester United’s leading man, unexpectedly entered the locker room at halftime in the middle of a 0-0 draw, in order to touch the intimate fibers of his teammates to get a reaction. First, he had it out with Ruud van Nistelrooy. And then he faced José Kleberson. “You are not in Brazil, you are not on the beach. “This is England,” he snapped. His interlocutor did not bow her head. On the contrary, he stood up, and in a flurry of English and Portuguese, mixing the languages, he stood up: “Me? “I won the World Cup.” “Keane no longer said anything,” Eric Djemba Djemba completed the story, who told that anecdote that offers just a crumb of the ordeal that landing at the Red Devils represented for the midfielder, at the climax of his career. But he represented the beginning of the slide…

In one photo, both faces. August 2003. The legendary Alex Ferguson poses with United’s two star signings. On one side, Kleberson, then 24 years old. On the other, Cristiano Ronaldo, 18. For the most experienced, it was the setback that marked his career, which was on a rapid rise. For the young man, the springboard towards legend. They were presented on the same day, but luck was different for both in Manchester. So much so that, despite the fact that he is a world champion, every time there is an anniversary of CR7’s arrival in the club that catapulted him and where he won his first Champions League, questions or trivia intensify on the networks asking who It is “the other.”

But if we look back to 2003, that other person was the one who had the most extensive and dazzling resume. From standing out in the Atlético Paranaense youth competitions and winning the Copinha (the famous Under 20 tournament organized by the São Paulo Federation), to celebrating the Paranaense Championship twice and sitting on the throne of the Brasileirao in just two years. From being summoned by Luis Felipe Scolari to the Scratch squad for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, fighting for one of the last places, to becoming a surprising key piece for the five-time champion.

It is not an exaggeration to highlight its importance in the feat. In the round of 16, he assisted Ronaldo to make it 2-0 against Belgium, when the match ended. And in the great definition he sent the center from the right that Rivaldo let pass so that O Fenómeno captured the second conquest against Germany and hammered the title. “It was my best game,” he was able to say about the decisive clash against the Germans. “It was very easy for me, because the Germans were worried about marking Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo. They never imagined I could do what I did! I had a lot of space to play and things flowed. Gilberto Silva gave me very good defensive support and I always tried to come out with speed. I arrived many times by surprise. Thank God, I was able to stand out”, gave the key to his brilliance. That mark allowed him to sustain his presence in Verdeamarela despite the ups and downs. In 2004 he won the Copa América in Peru (after beating Argentina on penalties) and was also part of the roster at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Such a heavy letter of introduction deposited him at United. But Barcelona, ​​Newcastle and Leeds, among others, bid for him. The Red Devils won the fight, after paying 6,500,000 pounds (the equivalent of 8,250,000 dollars at that time). There was one detail that particularly tempted him to bet on the Premier League giant. A colleague of his in the milestone in Korea-Japan was about to close his arrival at the institution.

Kleberson, with Ronaldinho, in the Brazil team

“I was a friend of Ronaldinho and he had told me that he was going to sign for Manchester United – then he was shining at PSG. He spent several months telling me to go, because he was going to play there. I wanted to go, but I had doubts because I didn’t know how to speak English and at United no one spoke Portuguese. Ronaldinho failed me, because he ended up convincing me to sign, but he never did. “He left for Barcelona and I took it as a big lie,” he accused the former Gremio in an interview with ESPN, in which he even used the word “betrayal.” On top of that he ended up in Catalonia, from where Kleberson had received probes…

Dinho, for his part, excused himself, claiming that he had “everything arranged” to play under the tutelage of Alex Ferguson, but “some details” collapsed the operation. And they left Kleberson helpless, who relied on Diego Forlán, for example, as a translator. At the dawn of his adventure, the lights softened the impact of his loneliness.

“When I arrived at Manchester, Cristiano Ronaldo was a promise, and I came with the status of world champion. He was a bet – he came from Sporting Lisbon -. It was a sensational performance, a highlight of my career, arriving at a club as high level as Manchester United, and even more so alongside someone who would become an icon of world football. It was great. From time to time, I go back in time, I remember that day, the look we wore, some pants and shirts that were a little out of fashion… But it was great to have played in the Premier League and the Champions League. It was a very good experience, although I did not have continuity. It was a learning experience,” he revealed about that postcard that reappears on each anniversary.

Indeed, due to adaptation problems, or because it was not the ideal habitat to develop his qualities, Kleberson never settled at Old Trafford. Yes, he won two titles (an FA Cup and a Community Shield) and scored two goals in 30 games. But criticism dogged him, especially considering that the scepter with Brazil had set the bar high in terms of the expectations placed on him. His name began to appear in the lists of the club’s worst signings (Daily Mail, for example, included him in a top ten of the Sir Alex era). From there he left for Besiktas in Turkey, where he ended up unilaterally terminating, which caused him legal problems when he returned to his country to perform for Flamengo. Then, when he re-emerged, the injuries, the lack of rhythm, the irregularity. Even so, he celebrated a Brasileirao, he continued to venture into his national team, but never at that level that took him to the top of football.

A return to Paranaense, Bahía and American soccer brought his career to a close. In fact, he maintained the link with the MLS, because until a few months ago he served as assistant coach at New York City. At 44 years old, he observes from a distance how that young man who poses next to him in the photo of his presentation at United is still active in Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia and became the top scorer in the history of this sport . But there is something that he has in his personal museum and that the Portuguese will surely continue to envy: the world champion medal.

Kleberson, at United, where he scored two goals in 30 games (Colorsport/Shutterstock)
2024-03-05 05:19:00
#won #World #Cup #presented #Cristiano #Ronaldo #Manchester #United #Ronaldinhos #betrayal #marked #career