At the end of 2009, Vasco da Gama returned to the top flight as the Second Division champion after a gap of one year. At the time, Coutinho, Teixeira, Alain and Alain Kaldek were known as Vasco's "Four Little Swans" and shouldered the heavy responsibility of leading the team to ZTE. Fast forward 6 years, Coutinho and Alain have become famous in Europe, Caldek is back and forth between Europe and Brazil, only the unique Sheila, out of a different path from the former window - he as the new winter window king to the Chinese Super League upstart Jiangsu Suning, becoming the focus of the world...
Edmundo's hand-picked successor
As the saying goes: The world of chaos produces talents, and this statement may be most appropriate for Teixeira. In 2008, Teixeira made her official debut from the parent team Vasco da Gama. At the turn of the century, the "Maltese Crusaders" were famous for a pair of world-famous players, Edmundo and Romario, but in that stormy 2008, the team was no longer dominant. In July of that year, the team's all-time top scorer Roberto DiMit replaced Yurico Miranda as president of the team, and the staff that led the team went through five coaches, Alfredo Sampaio, Romario, Antonio López, Tita and Renato Gaucho. Affected by this, Vasco has been struggling on the verge of relegation, and the only thing that has slightly relieved fans is that Alex Teixeira from the team's youth training has performed well and has been hailed as the "new Edmundo". Coincidentally, that year Edmundo returned to Vasco at the invitation of Dimit, completing a rendezvous between the team's old and new generations of stars.
As an authentic Vasco fan, Teixeira grew up watching Edmundo play. It's a great privilege for him to be able to watch his idol play football up close and play alongside them. In the eyes of the Beast, Teixeira has the potential to become his successor, "Alex (referring to Teixeira) is a very strong player, he is good at listening and humbly asking for advice, I hope he can improve every day, Vasco's new generation of players has unlimited prospects." ”
At the time, Edmundo and another star, Leandro Amaral, were uprooting the front, while Teixeira was behind the two as the team's organizer. The combination of two generations of Vasco idols once brought the team the dawn of relegation, but unfortunately, they were ultimately unable to reverse the first relegation in the history of the team. At the end of the season, the Beast hung up his boots with regret, while Teixeira took over the scepter from the former and officially opened a new era of his own.
In 2009, Dolivar Junior became Vasco manager, with Teixeira as the core and youth players such as Alain, Kaldek, Coutinho and Sousa as the core team, creating a formidable youth guard, and after only one season, Teixeira completed his promotion goal with Vasco as the second division champion. Due to his outstanding performances, Teixeira represented the Brazilian u20 national team at the World Youth Championships in Egypt as a main player. Although he was unfortunately missed in the penalty shootout in the final, resulting in the team losing to Egypt and finishing second, he still won the silver ball award of the tournament with 3 goals.
It is difficult to realize the dream of the Red Army
With the help of this World Youth Championship, Teixeira has received the attention of many European clubs, among which the Donetsk miners are the most eager. At the time, Vasco's fans were unanimously opposed to the sale of the team's idol, but given the club's debt at the time, Vasco had to sell Teixeira for 6 million euros. According to Teixeira's father, Eddilsen Costa Santos, he was actually reluctant to let his son play in Ukraine, but was eventually persuaded, "At the beginning, we were a little worried because Ukraine was too far away." But I remember Alex asking me at the time, 'Dad, do you know how many Brazilians there are?' 7! So he asked me to allow him to transfer. Eventually, I agreed. ”
With his father's permission, Teixeira joined miners in early 2010. In this Ukrainian club with strong samba style, it has become the most relied attacking player for manager Lucescu. This season, with the departure of Adriano and Douglas Costa, Teixeira has been fully established as the core of the team, which has completely activated his form. After the first half of the league, he was far ahead of the top scorer list with 22 goals in 15 games, and even in european football, his stats were among the best. In view of this, liverpool and Chelsea have extended an olive branch to it. Among them, the Red Army made two offers to the Donetsk miners: after the first bid of £24.5 million was rejected, Liverpool added another £28 million, but could not meet the miners' demands.
During the team's trip to Florida, USA, Teixeira publicly expressed his interest in joining Liverpool, and the Brazilian was obviously a little disappointed by the miners' rejection of the Reds offer, "Liverpool is a great club, every player is eager to play here, and for me it is the same. They made a formal offer for the club, and as far as I know, the conditions are already quite lucrative. But unfortunately, neither the club president nor the manager wanted to accept it, and at this point, I don't know what to say. ”
In fact, as early as last summer, Teixeira intended to go to Europe for further study. After compatriots Luis Adriano and Douglas Costa switched to ac Milan and Bayern Munich respectively, Teixeira communicated with manager Lucescu and the club president respectively, but the feedback at that time was obviously not positive enough, "They told me that as long as a team gives a bid like Douglas and Adriano, the miners can let me go, but only next season", at that time, the Brazilian attacker already had plans to land in England, "I am a fan of the Premier League, I'm hoping for football there and plan to play there one day. I played with Coutinho when I was very young – around 10 or 11 years old – and it would be a compliment to me if I could play with him again. ”
It is not difficult to understand how eager Liverpool was to seize this opportunity when Liverpool issued an invitation to Teixeira, especially after seeing his friend Douglas walk out of the career bottleneck at Bayern and get Dunga's favor, he hopes to use the Platform of the Reds to realize his dream of wearing an adult national team shirt. However, manager Lucescu does not want to easily satisfy the dream of the disciple, because in the eyes of the Romanian coach, the price of his apprentice is on par with the likes of Di Maria, "Teixeira is worth 50 million euros, he is amazing, fast and skilled." In my opinion, his transfer fee should be comparable to that of Di Maria, who transferred to Paris Saint-Germain in the same grade. ”
Eventually, the Donetsk miners sold Teixeira to Jiangsu Suning, which offered 50 million euros. After the news spread in Brazil, many fans accused Teixeira of being greedy and unenterprising, but as a former miner player, Chelsea winger Willian can understand Teixeira's decision, "Miners tend to sell players to lower-level teams to earn more transfer fees." In contrast, the traditional giants cannot afford to pay the same fees. Teixeira's case has also happened to me. I know how difficult it is to negotiate with Shakhtar Donetsk, I spent 2 years to leave the team", and William also deeply regrets that his friend failed to achieve his dream of landing in the Premier League, "In my opinion, he is a good player who can easily stand in English football. Personally, I'd love to see him play in the Premier League or other European giants, which could improve his chances of getting into the national team. ”
Father - the first Bó Lè
Failing to land in the Premier League as desired, Teixeira's regret is self-evident. However, being able to switch to Jiangsu Suning at the highest price in the world this winter is enough to show the strength of brazilians. Behind its success, it is naturally indispensable to the care and help of the family.
In Teixeira's football journey, his father, Eddielson Costa Santos, was his first Bó Lè. Although the family situation is not very good, in order to make his son stand out, Eddison does everything possible to play football for the child. Recalling Teixeira's discovery by Vasco da Gama, he still remembers vividly, "My children are the focus of my life, and I always try to give everything to them." When Alex was very young, I knew he was talented. His ability to handle the ball is different, and we realise that we need to guide him well. So we sent him to the São Bento Football School. He then went to Vasco da Gama and played a few friendly matches. At that time, Alex's ability was already very prominent, and the coach in São Bento, after learning about it, decided to arrange a test for my son, who was only 9 years old at the time, but he did a great job. After this, he was officially signed by the club. “
In Vasco da Gama's academy, Teixeira's football skills have been further polished, and like his predecessors such as Edmundo and Romario, his personality also has a competitive Vasco gene. In January 2015, the Donetsk miners went to Brazil for training. In a warm-up match against Brazil International, Teixeira had a serious physical clash with the opposing centre-back and former Evergrande foreign player Pauloon. Despite being a foot larger than himself and known as a "Brazilian tank", Teixeira was not at all intimidated. He first threw Baolong on a toe, and then he tugged at the collar of the other party with both hands, as if he wanted to eat the other party. The day after the match, Teixeira posted a picture of the two wrestling on a personal social platform and joked, "Yesterday, there was a mixed martial arts match at the Bellario Stadium, Teixeira against Paulón, and in the end, I won".
Although Teixeira on the court has no shortage of "out of line" moves, he is a completely good husband and father off the court. Teixeira's daughter Maria Eduarda was born in May 2013, and a year later, on June 2, a week after Maria's first birthday, Teixeira and Deis Cristina hosted a grand wedding in Rio. In Teixeira's social platform, you can always see the warm interaction of their family of three, this time after switching to Jiangsu Suning, his wife and daughter will still accompany him and become his solid backing.