[ad_1]
On Sunday Edu will make a familiar trip across north London. Only this time, Arsenal’s technical director will have to make do without his little brother.
Instead, Gilberto Silva must watch from afar as Arsenal travel to Spurs for a deserted derby which could define their landscape for months to come. Between them, the two Brazilians faced Tottenham 15 times in the Premier League with Gilberto featuring in 11 fixtures. Defeats? None. Titles won on enemy territory? One.
Mikel Arteta’s task is rather less glamorous, but no less significant in the hunt for Europe. ‘He knows the club, he played under Arsene (Wenger), he worked with Pep (Guardiola) and I’m sure he learned from both of them and the other managers he worked with,’ Silva says. ‘He can do good work for the club.’
Former Arsenal star Gilberto Silva never lost against Spurs in 11 North London derby games
This will be Arsenal’s first trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the glinting symbol of a recent power shift in north London. It will also be Edu’s first visit to Spurs since he returned to the club.
These days, at least, he no longer has to play mentor, translator and personal shopper to a fellow Invincible.
‘He was like my big brother,’ Silva, now 43, tells Sportsmail from Brazil. ‘Many times I went to his house to eat. Once he went to the supermarket with his wife Paula and when they got home there was one bag separate. He went to take it and she said: “Oh, this is not for us, this is for Gilberto”’.
Silva arrived a year after Edu on the back of the World Cup triumph in 2002 but was blissfully unaware of the finer points of English football, particularly a trip to Cardiff before his maiden season to play Liverpool.
‘I said to him: “Edu where are we going?” He said we were going to play a game. But I didn’t ask him which kind of game — for me it was a friendly after pre-season because in Brazil that was quite common.’
He spoke of his special relationship with his ‘big brother’ Edu (left) during his time at Arsenal
The Brazilian pair won three trophies together during their time at the north London outfit
Silva started on the bench, before replacing Edu and netting the winner.
‘It was nice to score on my debut and after the game everybody was celebrating. Then a trophy came. I asked him: “Edu, what’s wrong? We won the game and there’s a trophy?” He was very happy. “Yeah we won the trophy, this is the Community Shield!”’
Four more pieces of silverware and an unbeaten season would follow. But more than a decade after his departure, the hole Silva left has never really been filled. ‘It’s good when people realise how important my job for the team was,’ he says. ‘All these years they haven’t found a player to be in this position and to give better stability.’
But it is not just the Arsenal midfield that interests Gilberto. His fellow Brazilian Fred is battling to bring balance to Manchester United, too. And for the past three years, Gilberto has been his agent, mentoring him on his own journey in England.
He won a total of five trophies at Arsenal and was a member of the 03-04 Invincibles team
Silva worked with Man United star Fred – who is his client – to help him improve at Old Trafford
‘His first year was hard — he came from the World Cup, didn’t play, had injuries, he got married,’ Gilberto says. ‘Many times in his first season, we spoke and he was frustrated — not getting many games. I told him: just be patient and work hard. It doesn’t matter if you play 10 minutes, a half, 60 minutes or don’t play.’
Slowly, the Brazilian found his feet. Now £52million doesn’t seem such a waste. ‘Hard work pays off,’ Gilberto says. ‘But you cannot stop: he needs to keep his focus, keep working hard. He’s humble and hungry to learn too, because he wants to achieve things with the club, he wants to be a champion.’
For now that luxury is Liverpool’s after a season interrupted by Covid-19 and marked by political activism. Football’s commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement has seen many players use their platform to push for social change.
‘It’s important players stand up and use their voice,’ Gilberto says. ‘I disagree when they say players cannot get involved in the political side of society. Players are part of society. And they are a loud voice to support the lower voice (of ordinary people).’
The 43-year-old wants footballers to speak out about important issues including racism
Silva has previously criticised peers for not speaking out against football’s broken governance. He works with Brazil’s federation, the CBF, and in 2013 was a leading figure in the Bom Senso (good sense) movement, which fought for better conditions for players.
And he has been the subject of racism on the pitch as well. ‘Once playing for Arsenal, we went to Holland to play against PSV (in 2002),’ he begins. ‘At half-time Thierry (Henry) arrived in the dressing room very angry, shouting in French… I thought it was about the team, our performance.’
He was wrong. ‘Edu explained that the fans were singing monkey sounds outside.’
After leaving Arsenal for Panathinaikos, he experienced it again. ‘Once, somewhere we played up in northern Greece, they threw an inflatable banana at Djibril Cisse,’ Gilberto says. ‘When I saw him stop and react towards the fans… I ran after him and told him: “No, forget them, we need you.” At half-time everyone was very upset.’
Then, against Panionios, more racism. ‘I was warming up and suddenly I look out to the fans and two made monkey gestures to me.’ So Gilberto decided to mock them.
He admitted he has been subjected to monkey gestures and abuse during his time as a player
‘My reaction was to do the same… maybe it was not the best reaction but it’s like a mirror for them just to see how bad it was to have that gesture. And they stopped immediately because, I guess, they would not expect me to do that. Then I started making some funny faces to them, I started to kiss my skin…’
Born into poverty, the Brazilian worked in upholstery, construction, on a coffee plantation and in a sweet factory by the time football took over. Now, five years after hanging up his boots, the 43-year-old is still allergic to a quiet life.
He runs a hotel, hosts a podcast interviewing icons of sport (an episode with Edu comes out next week, Mo Farah is up soon), works as an agent and invests in fan engagement platform TruChallenge.
Now Silva is in charge of a hotel and hosts a podcast alongside his role as a football agent
‘It’s sometimes quite tough,’ he says. ‘I wake up, start work in the hotel solving problems and then I have to switch my mind to talk to the players. And now with TruChallenge and the podcast…’
Gilberto moved his family back to London last year. They lived in Victoria but coronavirus has left him marooned in Brazil. So attention is back on Hotel Samba, his hometown venture where the walls are painted red and white — matching the bed covers in every room. Working under Wenger taught him much.
‘I guess I’m similar to Arsene,’ he says. ‘In football it’s important to have the right people when you are in a position of leadership. In the hotel it’s the same. I need the right people that understand it’s important we give the best to our clients. Arsene needed to think about results, but he also managed people very well. This is important in running any business.’
He is still passionate about Arsenal and didn’t rule out returning to the club in the near future
There are differences, of course. ‘You don’t have the fans putting pressure on you,’ Gilberto jokes. ‘But we have to give the clients what they expect. otherwise now they have platforms to leave reviews like TripAdvisor or Booking.com.’
A regular at The Emirates before the pandemic, Gilberto has now seen life from both sides of the line. So could he now be persuaded to work for the club again? ‘I’m enjoying my other work,’ he says.
‘But you never know. Arsenal hold a special place in my heart and if one day I get an invitation from the club of course I’d think in a special way about it. But for now I’ll be following from the outside and if I can help Arsenal in a different way at the moment, I’ll do my best.’
Something to ponder for Edu, then, on that journey across London. At least he knows this time, he wouldn’t have to do all the shopping.
[ad_2]
Source link
Have something to say? Leave a comment: