#3 Thiago Maia, Santos (Age: 20)
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How Barcelona are signing his team-mate, Lucas Lima, ahead of him is a shocking thing in itself. The lack of a controlling midfielder is becoming increasingly apparent within the ranks of Barcelona – and it seems like they are hell bent on signing the wrong Brazilian.
Thiago Maia plays for Santos in the Brazilian league and at 20 years of age is already among the first-team players. And he is good. Very good, in fact. When it comes to disrupting the opponent’s attacks in the game he is perhaps the best in Brazil.
Stats might not show everything, but they do give a picture of what’s out there. Maia has, thus far, played in 11 league games this season. In every game, he makes 1.7 tackles and 2.5 interceptions – showcasing his astute defensive positioning skills.
He is also no jack when deprived of space as he makes 1.2 successful dribbles in every game, showing that he can find his way out of trouble when the need arises. With a passing accuracy of 86.5% while making 57.2 passes-per-game, he shows that he will fit in well in Barcelona’s pass-and-move system.
But, no, Barcelona want a Tottenham reject instead.
