João Carvalho: The Quiet Rejuvenation

João Carvalho: The Quiet Rejuvenation

By Stephen Kountourou 

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Greek champions Olympiakos, over the last few seasons, has become a haven for players to come and rejuvenate their careers. After a tough period in their careers elsewhere, Piraeus, several players have arrived in Piraeus with something to prove and for the most part, this kind of recruitment has been a success. 

The likes of Jose Sa, Tiquinho, Gary Rodrigues, Ruben Semedo (to an extent) and the player I am going to be discussing today, January signing Joao Carvalho. Now, it's still very early days for the Portuguese playmaker in Piraeus, but we are already seeing signs of improvement from the player that lit up Nottingham Forest in the Championship a couple of years ago.

 

Carvalho arrived in Greece to sign for Thrylos on the 29th of January from sibling club Nottingham Forest. There was a mixture of feelings from supporters of the Greek champion's latest signing. The creative midfielder was talented as seen from his impressive 2019/20 campaign in the Championship, but since then had failed to replicate this good run more recently in England and had been since sent out on loan to Spain and his native Portugal. There was also a worry that, with this being another obligatory Forest transfer, he would end up just being a Tiago Silva 2.0.

He was first eased into the club by playing a match for the B team in Super League 2 where he was impressed in a 1-1 draw with Xanthi on the 2nd of February. A week later, he made his full debut for the senior squad in the Greek Cup in which he assisted fellow debutant Bandiougou Fadiga’s goal. Olympiakos eventually ran out 3-1 winners against Panetolikos and reached the Greek Cup semi-final against PAOK. 

Since then Carvalho has found consistent minutes in the first team during the latter stages of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. In just 426 minutes in all competitions, the number 10 has created 3 assists making an instant impact and improvement to the creativity of the first team since arriving in Piraeus. Watching the Portugues playmaker, since his arrival, has consistently shown that he is that flair player in the middle of the pitch since the absence of Kostas Fortounis. 

Without taking away the efforts of young prospect Agibou Camara, who has played in attacking midfielder for larger parts of the season, Camara is still a very raw talent and his decision making and consistency is still in development. Carvalho has brought that refinement behind the striker and is a composed figure on the ball whenever he has played.

He will also prove excellent competition to Kostas Fortounis, whose return is imminent, Mathieu Valbuena who is an excellent professional and servant to the club but cannot play week in week out and Agibou Camara who is the prospect of the four and, from what is being said, is likely to depart for bigger and better things in the summer. From this early stage at his time with the Greek champions, the 25-year-old is an excellent addition to an Olympiakos team that has lacked a true centre attacking midfielder this season. 

Hellas Football

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