Pato, the latest teenage sensation from Brazil, waiting in the wings at AC Milan

He started playing at the age of three, joined his first club at 11, and has been hailed as a future great by the legendary Pele. Can Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva live up to the hype?

It has taken just 15 years for Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva to progress his football career from an indoor school in Brazil, where he started at the age of three, to his present status as blossoming world star at AC Milan.

He joined Internatcional in Porto Alegre at the age of 11, living in dormitories with scores of other young hopefuls and playing for the youth teams. But in November, last year, he made his first team debut for Internacional at the age of 17, helping them to a 4-1 win over Palmeiras.

Pato created three of the goals and scored the other goal himself to announce his arrival to the world. His appearance spotlighted the young fantasist and created expectations and comparisons with various Brazilian superstars like Kaka and Ronaldinho.

He scored Internacional's first goal of the FIFA Club World Cup on December 13 in the semi-final game against Al-Ahly Cairo, helping his team to win the match 2-1 for a place in the final, which Internacional went on to win.

Pato was destined to join AC Milan and it was no surprise when he signed for them in August in a deal said to be around 22million Euros, which was the minimum buy-out clause in his Internacional contract.

But because of Italian football regulations that state non-EU minors may not be registered in Italy, Pato will not be able to play official matches for Milan until January 3, 2008, when the Italian transfer window reopens. But he has started training with the team and is allowed to play in exhibition games (which he has already done, and scored).


He already has a glowing reputation among retired and active stars. His control, deft touches, power and work rate have been compared with Kaka, and his dribbling and passing accuracy with that of Ronaldinho. Even the legendary Pele described him as "an extraordinary player promising to be the most professional footballer the world has ever seen."

Galliani On Pato: I Am Told He Is Extraordinary

Milan Vice-President Adriano Galliani is excited over the prospect of Brazilian wonderkid Alexandre Pato and says that star-striker Ronaldo is recovering well from injury.

The 18-year-old Pato signed for Milan from Internacional in the summer. However due to Italian football regulations regarding non-EU minors, he is ineligible to play competitively for the European Champions until January.

Nicknamed ‘The Duck’, the translation of his surname and place of birth, Pato is regarded as one of the most exciting young prospects in world football in recent years.

"They tell me extraordinary things about him, the players as well as the coach and I read the same things on the newspapers,” said Galliani.

“However he is only 18, let's not put too much pressure on him and give him too much responsibility.

“His purchase was a very precise political decision on our part, we always believed in this player and we knew we had to wait four months for him when he was bought. In January we will see whether we made the right choice.”

Galliani also offered another update on Ronaldo’s injury situation. The ex-Real Madrid star has yet to play for the Rossoneri this season.

"The doctors tell me Ronaldo is doing well, as do Maldini, Serginho, Kaladze, and Digao. Unfortunately we have five players out at the moment, but they are all recovering," Galliani concluded.