Just when Alexandre Pato was enduring a miserable period in his career, he made the move to China and found it very, very easy on the pitch.
The former AC Milan wonderkid did absolutely nothing of note on loan at Chelsea and his year at Villarreal was also a monumental disappointment, before he rediscovered his goalscoring touch in the Far East.
Pato joined Tianjin Quanjian, managed by Fabio Cannavaro, in a £15.5 million deal and was said to be raking in around £4.7 million per year in wages.
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But on the pitch, the Brazilian produced big-time. He scored 36 goals in 60 games during his two-year stint in the Chinese Super League.
And as these highlights show, he made it look like it was absolute light work. His stock had fallen massively prior to the switch but he was a completely different level to his opponents.
Of course there was the odd good, high-profile player he came up against but Pato really did run riot, embarrassing defenders left, right and centre and scoring a hatful of goals.
If Pato was this good, you can only imagine what havoc Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would cause if they fancied a change of scenery.
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Now 30, Pato is back in his native Brazil with São Paulo but has only scored five goals in 21 appearances since joining in 2019.
The winner of the Golden Boy and Serie A Young Player of the Year awards in 2009 after a promising season at Milan, Pato has been capped 27 times by Brazil, scoring ten times.
One of many players to have experienced the No.9 course at the Rossoneri, Pato has ultimately failed to fulfil his potential and will always have that asterisk next to his name given what could have been.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Football, Chinese Super League, Brazil
