Thiago Gentil

Football player infobox
playername = Thiago Gentil


fullname = Thiago Gentil
nickname = Shark
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1980|4|8
cityofbirth = São Paulo
countryofbirth = Brazil
height = height|m=1.80
currentclub = Aris FC
clubnumber = 9
position = Striker
youthyears = 1997-99
2000
youthclubs = Palmeiras
Santa Cruz
years = 2001-2002
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
2007-2008
2007-2008
clubs = Palmeiras
Al-Ittihad (Aleppo)
Palmeiras
Daegu FC
Santa Cruz
Deportivo Alavés
Figueirense
Aris FC
caps(goals) =


23 (4)
8 (0)
11 (0)
17 (2)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =

Thiago Gentil (born April 8, 1980 in São Paulo), is a Brazilian attacking midfielder. He currently plays for Aris Salonika. [cite web|url=http://placar.abril.com.br/meiocampo/noticias/012008/012008_493259.shtml|title=Thiago Gentil acerta com o futebol grego |publisher=placar.abril.com.br|accessdate=2008-01-08|date=2008-01-07] His nickname is "Tubarao" which means "shark", because of a parallelism that a Brazilian sports journalist made for his attacking mentality in the game.

Basic characteristics

Thiago Gentil is technically very gifted footballer who strikes with his left foot. Better known for its special curling, not so much for accuracy of the ball while shooting. His team-mates say that he can pass across whole pitch with the ball juggling from one foot onto the other without dropping it down nor a single time.

He is an attacking all-rounder, can be said (can cover left wing, more central attacking midfield and the field just behind main striker/s..)

Aris

He "gets reborn" and receives his chance after Vladimir Ivić left the team in the summer 2008. Under Dušan Bajević, in 2008, he remained on bench while Bajević preferred his compatriot Vladan Ivić as the first option on attacking midfielder. Thus, he accustomed to living in „difficult times“ and patience plus the fact that his arrival was overshadowed by acquision of Brazilian super-star Marcio Amoroso to Aris FC.

In his 16 matches of the season 2007/08 (its second half), generally playing as a substitute, he scored 2 goals- where the first one was notable as a last-minute diagonal shot and equalizer against AEK FC in Athens.

From the summer 2008, not only appears that he gained a basic spot in line-up, but seemed like he found an absolute chemistry with another 2 super-stars of Aris: Sergio Contreras Pardo "Koke" and Mario Regueiro. All three have tied up and formed a magical triangle that did stuffs and marvels, for example, in the summer 2008 friendlies with Werder Bremen and Club Brugge.

His contract is up in summer 2009.

"Chins of The Shark"

Figuratively, he is capable of faking and trapping a defenseman in front of him, into his „chins of shark“ by a sudden move, leaving the opponent behind. That is exactly his nickname „The Shark“ or originally in Portuguese „Tubarao“ and he got the nick-name for 2 reasons. First, was once his haircut (raised and gelled hair like the shape of shark's upper fin), the second is already afore-mantioned „sudden move“ with the factor of surprise. He well accepted his nick-name and actually tattooed a big attacking shark.

"Child" of Scolari

At his first years of career, Thiago Gentil had the occasion to work under 2 of the best Brazilian coaches: Luis Felipe Scolari and Vanderlei Luxemburgo. However, the first one he considers as his "football father", after Scolari was one who integrated him in Palmeiras by giving him chances to show his rich talent.

European and Asian Experiences

The first European experience was in the Spanish "La Liga". In the summer time of 2006 he signed a 3 year contract with Deportivo Alaves, of the annual wages at least 800.000 euros. He gave very good appearances in Spain, but the financial problems that faced, in that period, Alaves with their eccentric owner Dimitri Pitterman, forced him to come back to his homeland at the club of Figueirense. There scouted him the persons of Aris and then proposed him a solid contract that soon made him a resident of Thessaloniki.

Alaves and Aris may be the only European clubs in his career account so far, but Gentil also had experiences from other continents. He played in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad (Jeddah), contracted for more than 1 million euros for each year of collaboration. Still, played for Daegu FC in South Korea. Did not adapt well there, so returned to his homeland again.

External links

*en icon [http://www.sambafoot.co.uk/players/3139_Thiago_Gentil.html Sambafoot]
*ko icon [http://new.kleaguei.com/record/mania/player.aspx K-League personal record]
*gr icon [http://www.goalday.gr/article.asp?catid=10584&subid=2&tag=7761&pubid=1274150 goalday.gr, article about Gentil]

*en icon [http://www.greeksoccer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=235051724&st=80 greeksoccer.com forums, topic about Gentil]

*de icon [http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/spieler/51712/thiagogentil/default/2007/leistungsdaten.html transfermarkt.de, Gentil's stats of 2007/08]

References