Former Real Madrid striker Julio Baptista believes the club are fortunate to have signed midfielder Lucas Silva.
The 21-year-old joined from Cruzeiro for €13m on Monday and Baptista, a teammate of Silva’s with the Brazilian outfit, feels it is a major coup for the Spanish giants to have snapped up such a talented footballer.
“Real Madrid have been fortunate in signing Lucas Silva,” the 33-year-old told Cadena SER’s ‘El Larguero’ programme.
“They have to be thinking of a long-term project because he’s going to be a very important player.
“It’s going to be different for him because there’s something that people don’t understand. When a player is in Brazil and he goes to Europe he is not 100 per cent ready.
“Lucas Silva is someone who can play in Europe as he has a very European style, but he is still not prepared and has to get used to Real Madrid.
“As a player he is an organiser. When he doesn’t play the team notices his absence because he is very advanced for his age.
“He’s similar to Xabi Alonso in that he has his qualities, while he also possesses a very powerful shot, which makes him dangerous.
“However, he’ll need to get used to playing in Europe, although I think he will force his way into the Brazil national side very soon,” he maintained.
