Gabriel Barbosa, a.k.a. Gabigol, has a very similar story to many Brazilian youngsters. Born in the suburbs of São Paulo, the talented 19-year-old decided to try to mae a better life to him and his family via a football career. The first club to take a chance on him was São Bernardo do Campo, and soon he received an offer to come to Santos FC.
At Santos his career took off. Santos is known to have a a very strong Youth Academy, discovering Brazilian stars such as Pelé, Robinho and Neymar.
Gabigol's talent, skills and style of play have earned him comparisons to Neymar, and he has drawn the attention of the international press.
From British newspaper The Sun:
Affectionately known as “Gabigol”, clubs are clamouring to see if Gabriel Barbosa really lives up to the hype.
And why wouldn’t they be? Barbosa scored over 600 goals at youth level and made his senior debut for Santos at the tender age of 16.
The now 19 year old sensation scored 21 goals in 56 games across all competitions in 2014 and followed it up by netting 17 goals in only 47 appearances in 2015.One of the main reason for his stardom, was to have scored 600 goals in just 3 seasons playing in the Youth Soccer. He seems to be a machine of score goals.
Barbosa seems to have a mature attitude, and his career is managed by his father. He shows a wisdom when asked about how he handle with fame, and it seems that he will not let fame go to his head or ruin his career, as happens in many cases in Brazilian soccer.
Even though he reportedly has offers to play in Spain, Turkey and England he seems to not be anxious to play European soccer very soon, saying that now is time to focus on Santos try to play in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Rumor has it after the Olympics he could join Neymar at Barcelona.
