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Portuguese football has produced far more than its fair share of truly world-class players over the last decade and a half.

Paulo Sousa, Rui Costa, Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo, among others, have lit up pitches across Europe, and the next big thing to come out of Portugal has announced himself in spectacular style this season. The operative word here could well be big.

William Carvalho stands just shy of 6’2” tall and weighs close to 14 stone. He makes good use of his imposing frame to play the holding midfielder role – arguably the most important position in modern football – to near perfection.

William (he generally goes by his first name only in Portugal) is a product of Sporting’s famed academy, and was brought back into the fold by the Lisbon club this season after an 18-month loan at Belgium’s Cercle Brugge.

New coach Leonardo Jardim oversaw an overhaul of the squad after what was literally the club’s worst season in over 100 years of history. It was a surprise when William was selected as a first-team starter as 2013/14 kicked off but a handful of matches later and nobody was questioning the wisdom of the decision.

The Angolan-born 21-year-old Manchester United target has been consistently outstanding.

The author of this piece was fortunate enough to have watched every one of his 24 appearances last season, half of them in the flesh. When I watch him I am left with the same impression I got when watching the young Angel Di Maria, Hulk or João Moutinho burst onto the Portuguese football scene. This is a very special player.

There are several reasons for Sporting’s renaissance, but chief among them is the contribution made by their rock at the base of their midfield. It was telling that in the one Liga game William missed last season, away at Benfica, Sporting were completely overrun in midfield. It would have been a closer run thing had William not been suspended.

Perfect positioning

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As with all great players, William seems to have more time on the ball than everyone else on the pitch. This despite being stationed in the thick of the midfield action. His highly tuned sense of anticipation, perfect positioning and swift execution enables him to completely boss games. I lost count of the number of times he has been man-of-the-match months ago.

No matter how big, how fast or how skillful the adversary is, when coming up against William it is the Sporting man who invariably emerges with the ball before playing a neat short pass to his midfield partner in crime, Adrien Silva, or spraying it wide to the wings. His composure and football intelligence – principally his positioning – means he is rarely under pressure.

Not that he is afraid to use his physical prowess when need be. Several bruised opponents can attest to the weight of one of his crunching tackles. He also has surprising speed. I recall a match against Académica at Sporting’s Alvalade stadium. The visitors had frustrated the hosts all match, and when speedy Portugal U21 winger Salvador Agra sped away on a late break, William showed a lightning turn of pace to catch up, cleanly barge Agra off the ball and turn in possession.

I wondered why I had never noticed his speed before, then it struck me. He is always so perfectly positioned, it’s an asset he rarely needs to call on.

Composure personified

William is seemingly immune to pressure. He made his full Portugal debut with the Seleção wobbling against Sweden in a World Cup play-off second leg having just conceded two Ibrahimovic goals. Portugal coach Paulo Bento turned to William, who straight away brought a sense of calm to proceedings.

Portugal’s erstwhile porous midfield

, and soon Ronaldo had scored twice more (the first coming from a move initiated by a timely William intervention) to

.

William earned his first start for the national team in March against Cameroon, and was part of Portugal's squad at the World Cup, and was introduced as a half time substitute for the injured Andre Almeida in the 2-2 draw against the USA.

He then played all 90 minutes against Ghana as his compatriots won 2-1 but still went out of the tournament on goal difference. In his time on the pitch in Brazil he showed an impressively high pass percentage, higher than another United target Arturo Vidal who was playing for Chile.

Passing accuracy at World Cup 2014 90.1% 77.7%

Weaknesses

William Carvalho is not the perfect player. Yet. His distribution is occasionally wayward and largely unambitious, preferring the sideways pass to a more vertical approach. The development of this aspect is not helped by Sporting’s set-up, where practically all the attacking is channelled down the wings.

His second ‘failing’ is his propensity to pick up yellow cards on a frequent basis. At times it is the price paid for an intelligent and necessary foul, but on occasion one feels he could have avoided the wrath of the referee. The good news is that both these weaknesses can be worked on and bettered in training and upon acquiring match experience.

William Carvalho’s character traits offer further evidence we are in the presence of a player that could go right to the top of the game. His dealings with the press mirror his on-pitch displays. He gives short, composed, objective responses to all questions.

The story is well-known of how Benfica’s scouting officials appeared at his house in Mira Sintra on the outskirts of Lisbon when William was just 13 years old, only to be left open-mouthed when he refused their invitation to sign for them. When Portugal’s biggest club comes calling, it is rarely knocked back.

William was a Sporting fan and had set his heart on representing the green half of the city. Everything points to a man who knows his value and knows what he wants.