The fearless Da Silva Twins

Beyond a shadow of doubt, Sir Alex can break no sweat over distinguishing between the energetic Brazilian twins – The Da Silva brothers. According to the latest transfer news, Rafael has signed a 4 year contract extension which keeps him at the club till 2016 and Fabio signed a loan deal with Queens Park Rangers for the forthcoming season. It is definitely a step towards regaining the top spot. Sir Alex is leaving no stone unturned in this aspect.

They have largely been injured, because of their fearless tackles. They definitely have a bright future and can bring some Brazilian flair to the entire setup. The twins love to bombard down the flanks and support the offensive play. But their way to the first team is blocked by players who have established themselves as regulars. On that account, I got a thought – can they play as wingers?

Sir Alex experimented by playing the energetic Rafael in centre-midfield against Blackburn, which backfired as the side lost 3-2. Fabio did come on as a sub last year against Wigan and played on the left wing. Also, Sir Alex started them as wingers against Arsenal in an FA cup match with Fabio scoring from a Rafael cross. So the signs do look promising.

In the future, can the Brazilian duo be put to work as wingers? Well, I have a host of reasons to back up this suggestion.

• Fabio has found the way to the first team blocked by O’Shea and Evra. If United sign Baines, then another player would be ahead of him. Even the likes of Blackett, Fryers (if he stays) will contest a place for the Left Back position. On the other side, Wes Brown often played as Right Back and more importantly, Neville had made that position his own. Jones and Smalling have emerged as potential defenders who are adept at playing at Right Back, thus further reducing the chances for the twins. Thus a change in roles would help. Deploying them as wingers can help in tapping their immense potential as well as kill the deficit of wingers in the years down the line.
• The center of gravity matters. Since a taller person has longer legs, they surely take longer strides compared to a shorter person and cover greater ground. However, they also have to deal with more mass as well, which ultimately results in tiring the person off quickly. Therefore, the Da Silva twins would be able to do well on the wings than other taller players.
• As Brazilians, dribbling would be one of the fundamental skills that they possess and this can be better used by deploying them as wide men. They are already good at accelerating and sprinting. If they can develop their game by providing quality crosses, they will be very lethal.
• Being young and willing to adapt, their stamina can be vital for United. The willingness to learn and the ambition to succeed may be a driving factor.
• The amount of injuries that they incur could lessen by a large amount as they would not have to tackle recklessly or block shots. Or they can play as solid full backs to the wingers with overlapping runs and the partnership of Rafael and Valencia surely looked deadly last time around. Rafael made the runs when Valencia hogged the touchline and Valencia took care of the pressing game and vice-versa when Valencia was on with his marauding runs.

If used cleverly, they can be of good use to the club. I surely feel they have a bright future in the United colours for many more years to come.