oh my god...

saw this in the times' soccer report on tuesday, "In France, the Brazilian striker Fred, whose full name is Frederico Chaves Guedes, scored two goals in his debut as Olympique Lyon defeated Monaco, 2-1." are you kiddig me? i certainly have a new favorite soccer player (sorry freddy adu) and i want to change my name to just "fred". i also want to be known as an "artilheiro".



But now there is a new kid hoping to follow in his famous footsteps, and his goal scoring record is just as stupefying as Ronaldo's was in the blue of Cruzeiro. On Tuesday, Lyon announced the signing of the Raposa's latest boy wonder - Fred.

Having scored 40 goals in 43 appearances during 2005, it was hardly surprising that the 21-year-old had been courted by a number of clubs from across Europe. But while finding the back of opponents' nets is the predominant aspect of Fred's game, he is not exclusively devoted to goal scoring.

One man who knows about the attacker's range of attributes more than most is ex-Cruzeiro boss Levir Culpi. Fred spent seven-and-a-half months under the tutelage of the 52-year-old - an intelligent, foresighted coach with a reputation for nurturing emerging talents - and he credits Culpi with having played a major role in his development as a player.

"Fred has a good physical bearing. He can shoot well with both feet, heads the ball well, is intelligent and knows where to position himself. But he also works hard for the team," enthused the actual São Caetano tactician.

It is an opinion shared by Fred's former team-mate Athirson. "People talk about the goals he scores, but he's much more than just an artilheiro. He's got a lot of ability but above all, he helps his team-mates, always giving us an option," said the wing-back, before completing a switch from Cruzeiro to Bayer Leverkusen earlier this year.