The Ballon d’Or is the biggest individual prize in world football. For some, it means the world. Trent Alexander-Arnold, for example, once claimed he would rather win that than lift the World Cup with England.
Perhaps that explains why he has left boyhood club Liverpool for Real Madrid – after all, Los Blancos have the most winners with 12, while Michael Owen is the only icon to lift the prize at Anfield. Regardless, it’s fair to suggest that some big names get distracted in pursuit of the Ballon d’Or.
In the late 2000s, Alexandre Pato was one of the biggest talents in world football. However, he never lived up to his full potential. Here’s the story of how he went from future superstar to Chelsea and Premier League flop.
Alexandre Pato Had The World At His Feet
Won 2009 Golden Boy Award
The Brazilian started out his career with Internacional, and after breaking into the senior team, he scored 11 goals in his first 19 games. His performances quickly began to draw attention.
After his breakthrough, AC Milan snapped up the player in 2007, and he soon enhanced his reputation in Europe. He bagged a goal on his Serie A debut vs Napoli and added a brace against Geneo in the same month. He finished the season with 9 goals in 20 outings.
The future was very much at his feet. Pato was playing with the very best, as he recalled in his Players’ Tribune article:
“I learned so much from those legends. I sat next to Ronaldinho in the dressing room. After training, Carlo would tell Seedorf and Pirlo to hit long passes to me so that I’d know where to run. Pirlo said, ‘Just go and the ball will arrive.’ It always did.
“One day in my second season I arrived to practice free kicks. Who was there shooting? Pirlo. Seedorf. Ronaldinho. Beckham. I was like, ‘You know what? Today I’ll just watch.'”
He would be named Golden Boy in 2009, but soon lost his focus. Pato would admit how his perspective on football changed:
“When I became the Golden Boy as the best young player in Europe, in 2009, I didn’t think about the Ballon d’Or. I was just having fun and OPA! — a prize.
“I was unstoppable when I was living in the present. But my head got stuck in the future.”
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Pato’s Career Never Lives Up To Expectations
Flops at Chelsea, struggles at other clubs
Sadly, however, injuries soon started to take their toll. By his own admission, Pato explained: “In 2010, I started to get injured all the time. I lost confidence in my own body.”
He had been so confident before, but his lack of fitness and the pressure of expectation ultimately were too much for the young forward. He spoke of how he took his eye off the ball:
“I loved the attention. I wanted to be talked about. But you know what happened? I began dreaming too much. Even though I was still working hard, my imagination was taking me all kinds of places. In my head I was already holding the Ballon d’Or. You can’t help it, man. It’s very hard not to get affected. Also, I had suffered like hell to get there. Why should I not enjoy it?”
Over the coming seasons, things went from bad to worse for Pato as he failed to build up any momentum on the pitch. In 2012, he was handed the 2012 Bidone d’oro, a satirical prize given to the worst Serie A player during a particular season.
|
Pato’s Career Stats |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Club |
Games |
Goals |
Assists |
|
AC Milan |
150 |
63 |
18 |
|
Sao Paulo |
143 |
49 |
20 |
|
Corinthians |
62 |
18 |
1 |
|
Tianjin Tianhai |
60 |
36 |
8 |
|
Orlando City |
32 |
4 |
5 |
|
Villarreal |
24 |
6 |
5 |
|
Internacional |
19 |
11 |
1 |
|
Chelsea |
2 |
1 |
0 |
He was sold to Corinthians the following year but his form wasn’t great either. Things did pick up slightly on loan to Sao Paulo in 2014, and with the player ‘still dreaming of Europe’ he moved to Chelsea on loan in 2016.
It seemed like a questionable move but the Blues were hopeful that Pato could tap into that talent that had once seen him look destined for a Ballon d’Or. That he managed just two appearances for the club – albeit scoring in one – shows just how much he struggled to convince in England. He reflected:
“I still didn’t get it. I thought that Chelsea would loan me for six months and then I’d sign for three years. I didn’t realise that they could say no after the loan. Had I known? I would have gone elsewhere. It was a pity, because I was training really well, and the coach only played me twice. I never understood why.”
Over the remainder of his career, he would play for Villarreal, Tianjin Quanjian, Orlando City, and Sao Paulo (again). His last game before retirement came with the Brazilian outfit in 2023.