Brazilian football rarely has to wait long for its next
great attacking talent.
Vinícius Júnior has already crossed the Atlantic to Real
Madrid, Rodrygo is beginning to demonstrate at the Santiago Bernabéu why he was
regarded as one of Santos’ finest young prospects, and Gabriel Martinelli has
made an extraordinary start to life at Arsenal. Yet back in Brazil, another
name is rapidly demanding attention.
Gabriel Veron.
The Palmeiras winger is only 17, has barely begun his senior
career, and remains largely unknown to those outside Brazilian
youth football. But after the events of the past few weeks, anonymity is
unlikely to last much longer. Veron has just emerged from the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup as a world champion and Golden Ball winner, having played a central
role in Brazil lifting the trophy on home soil.
Three goals, two assists, 18 chances created from open play
and 22 completed dribbles tell part of the story.
Watching him tells considerably more.
There is an electricity to Veron’s football that statistics
cannot completely capture. He receives the ball with the immediate intention of
destabilising a defence. He accelerates suddenly, changes direction without
surrendering control and, perhaps most impressively for a player of his age,
often retains his composure after creating the initial chaos.
Former Brazil striker Bebeto has already taken notice.
“He’s a kid with enormous talent,” Bebeto told Correio
Braziliense during Brazil’s U-17 World Cup campaign.
“I looked for more information about him, and I was impressed
once I saw him wearing the No.7 producing beautiful plays.
“I watched him score a goal dribbling from almost his own
half before finding the net with a quality finish, calmly beating the
opposition goalkeeper.”
For a country that has spent generations producing
devastating wide forwards, such praise inevitably raises expectations. But
Gabriel Veron’s story is already unusual even by Brazilian standards.
The Brazilian Named After an Argentine
Before the football, there is the name.
Gabriel Veron Fonseca de Souza was born in Assu, Rio Grande
do Norte, and his middle name provides one of the more curious subplots
surrounding Brazil’s latest prodigy. He is named after Juan Sebastián Verón.
Yes, that Juan Sebastián Verón — the former Lazio,
Manchester United and Inter midfielder who represented Brazil’s greatest
rivals, Argentina, at three World Cups.
The decision was not even originally his parents’ idea.
“It was our neighbour’s idea,” Veron explained to FIFA.com
during the U-17 World Cup.
“He’d always wanted a son but ended up with three daughters.
So, when my parents couldn’t decide on a second name for me, our neighbour
said: ‘Why not call him Veron?’”
His parents agreed.
Gabriel was too young to properly remember the Argentine
midfielder in his prime and has instead familiarised himself with his namesake
through YouTube clips.
“I really like the name and will try to live up to it, just
as he did,” he said.
For supporters of the Seleção, there is an amusing
contradiction in watching a Brazilian No.7 called Veron torment opposition
defenders.
Yet the teenager is rapidly ensuring that Brazilian
supporters associate the name with somebody entirely different.
From Cowboy Dreams to Palmeiras
Football was not always the obvious destination. Growing up
in Rio Grande do Norte, Veron initially imagined following his father into a
very different profession. His father works as a ranch hand, caring for cattle
and horses in the countryside, and Gabriel attempted to accompany him.
It did not last.
“That’s my father’s profession,” Veron explained. “I tried
to do the job alongside him, but just couldn't.”
His mother continued encouraging him towards football,
believing the game might provide her son with a different future.
The decision proved significant.
After beginning with Santa Cruz de Natal, Veron joined the
Palmeiras academy in 2017 and rapidly established himself as one of the most
exciting players in the club’s youth system.
Within a year, Europe had already received an early warning.
The Day a 15-Year-Old Helped Beat Real Madrid
In June 2018, Palmeiras travelled to Spain for the Mundial
de Clubes de La Comunidad de Madrid Sub-17, an international youth competition
featuring some of the world's leading academies
Veron was only 15.
It hardly mattered.
Palmeiras reached the final against Real Madrid and won 4–2,
with Veron scoring one of the goals. He finished the tournament as its leading
scorer and was also recognised as its best player. The significance extended
beyond the trophy itself.
Playing against technically accomplished European opposition
demonstrated that Veron’s superiority was not simply a product of domestic
youth football. Even against players from elite academies, his acceleration and
ability to eliminate opponents remained decisive.
It was an early glimpse of what Brazil would witness on a
much larger stage a year later.
The World Cup That Changed Everything
The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup arrived with Brazil playing at
home and carrying considerable expectations.
Veron embraced them.
Operating primarily from the right wing, he immediately
became one of the Seleção’s principal attacking outlets.
Against Canada in the opening match, he created John
Peglow’s goal before scoring himself. Against New Zealand, another assist
followed, this time for Kaio Jorge.
Then came Angola.
It was the kind of sequence from which reputations are
built.
Veron collected possession and drove directly at the
defence, gliding beyond a succession of opponents before calmly placing his
finish beyond the goalkeeper. The run showcased virtually everything that makes
him such an intriguing prospect: acceleration, balance, close control,
confidence and composure. The final characteristic is particularly important. There
are countless teenage wingers capable of producing tricks. There are fewer
capable of using those tricks purposefully, and fewer still who remain
sufficiently composed to make an intelligent final decision after beating their
defender. Veron already shows signs of belonging to the latter category.
Brazil continued through the tournament and eventually met
Mexico in the final at the Estádio Bezerrão.
The hosts won 2–1.
Brazil were world champions.
And when the individual awards were presented, the **Golden
Ball belonged to Gabriel Veron.
At 17 years old, he had been officially recognised as the
tournament’s outstanding player.
Why Veron Is Different
The immediate temptation is to describe Veron simply as
another extremely fast Brazilian winger.
That would undersell him.
His pace is unquestionably his most obvious physical weapon.
His first few metres are explosive, while his top speed allows him to become
particularly dangerous when opponents leave space behind their defensive line.
But what makes Veron fascinating is the relationship between
that speed and his technique.
He does not merely run quickly. He can dribble quickly.
That distinction is enormously important.
Veron maintains impressive control while accelerating and
can alter direction without dramatically slowing down. His relatively low
centre of gravity contributes to his balance, particularly when confronted by
defenders in isolation. He also possesses a broad repertoire of feints and
quick changes of rhythm. Sometimes the defender is beaten by acceleration. Sometimes
by deception. Often by both.
More Than a Right Winger
Brazil have predominantly used Veron on the right during the
U-17 World Cup, where his partnership with right-back Yan became one of the
team's most productive combinations.
But it would be misleading to regard him as a rigidly
defined right winger. Veron possesses the characteristics to operate across the
attacking line. From the right, he can attack the full-back directly and
accelerate towards the byline. From the left, he has the opportunity to move
infield into shooting and combination areas. His close control and awareness
also suggest that he could eventually operate centrally, either behind a
striker or as part of a fluid front line.
That versatility matters because elite football is
increasingly hostile to one-dimensional wide players. The modern winger must
recognise space rather than simply occupy a predetermined section of the pitch.
Veron appears naturally inclined towards that freedom.
The Most Encouraging Quality: End Product
Perhaps the most significant aspect of Veron’s World Cup was
not the spectacular dribbling but what followed it.
He produced three goals and two assists, but even those
numbers fail to capture his overall creative influence.
Veron created 18 chances from open play, more than any other
player at the tournament, while completing 22 dribbles, again leading the
competition.
Those numbers reveal an important combination.
He can eliminate defenders and create afterwards.
This is the distinction between decorative dribbling and
productive dribbling.
Veron does not appear interested in beating opponents simply
for the spectacle of doing so. His movements are generally progressive: towards
goal, towards space, or towards a position from which he can create for a
teammate.
For a 17-year-old, that is enormously encouraging.
The Questions He
Must Answer
None of this guarantees greatness.
Football history is filled with Golden Ball winners from
youth tournaments whose senior careers never followed the trajectory predicted
for them.
Veron still has significant development ahead.
Physically, he is unlikely to dominate defenders through
strength or aerial ability. Opponents capable of denying him space and forcing
him into sustained physical contact may provide a very different challenge from
those who allow him to accelerate
There are tactical questions too.
Senior football will demand greater consistency without
possession. Pressing intelligently, tracking runners, protecting his full-back
and maintaining positional discipline will become increasingly important.
And defenders will become smarter.
At youth level, Veron can sometimes rely upon his superior
acceleration to escape difficult situations. At senior level, experienced
opponents will attempt to prevent him from turning in the first place.
How he adapts will help determine his ceiling.
The objective should not be to suppress the spontaneity that
makes him special, but to construct a more complete footballer around it.
Palmeiras Have Already Opened the Door
That process has begun sooner than expected. Following his
performances at youth level, Veron was promoted into Palmeiras’ senior squad.
On November 28, he came off the bench against Fluminense to
make his Campeonato Brasileiro debut, becoming the first Palmeiras player born
in the 21st century to represent the club in Brazil’s top flight. The
appearance itself was brief. Its significance was not.
Only weeks after being named the best player at the U-17
World Cup, Veron had entered senior Brazilian football
Palmeiras must now decide how quickly to expose him to it.
The club has recent experience in this territory.
The Shadow of Gabriel Jesus
For Palmeiras supporters, one comparison is impossible to
avoid.
Gabriel Jesus.
The current Manchester City forward emerged through the
Palmeiras academy before becoming one of Brazilian football’s brightest young
stars and moving to England in 2017. Veron is a different type of attacker, but
the institutional similarities are obvious. Once again Palmeiras possess a
teenager capable of dominating youth football and attracting international
attention before establishing himself fully at senior level.
Europe will inevitably watch.
Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo have already demonstrated how
aggressively Europe's biggest clubs are prepared to pursue Brazil's elite
teenagers. Clubs increasingly prefer to identify exceptional South American
players before their value — and competition for their signature — becomes
prohibitive.
A world champion and Golden Ball winner playing for
Palmeiras will not escape that attention.
The question is not whether European scouts know Gabriel
Veron.
They certainly do.
The question is how long Palmeiras can keep him.
Brazil's Next Great Winger?
Such questions should perhaps wait.
Veron is 17. He has made only his first appearance in the
Brasileirão. He has yet to experience the inevitable fluctuations of a full
senior season, when opponents study weaknesses, expectations rise and physical
demands accumulate. Brazilian football has learned repeatedly that
extraordinary youth talent does not make senior success inevitable. But it is
equally difficult to watch Gabriel Veron without becoming excited about what
might be possible. The evidence is compelling.
At 15, he helped Palmeiras defeat Real Madrid in an
international U-17 final and finished the tournament as its outstanding player.
At 17, he helped Brazil win the U-17 World Cup.
He scored three times, assisted twice, created more
open-play chances than anybody else and completed more dribbles than anybody
else. He left the tournament carrying the Golden Ball. And now Palmeiras have
handed him his first senior minutes.
There is an appealing symmetry to his story.
The son of a ranch hand who once considered becoming a
cowboy has become one of Brazil's most exciting football prospects. A neighbour
gave him the name of an Argentine legend; now he is wearing Brazil's No.7 and
beginning to construct a footballing identity of his own.
Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo may currently represent the
future of Brazilian wing play on the European stage.
Back home, another contender has just announced himself.
His name is Gabriel Veron.
For now, he is merely a 17-year-old world champion taking
his first steps into senior football.
But after what Brazil witnessed in November 2019, “merely”
is becoming an increasingly difficult word to associate with him.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
