Last week on TV, I watched Aiden McGeady play for Eire against Brazil. I thought he looked by far Ireland’s most elegant player and he wouldn’t have looked out of place in the opposition line-up. I’ve also been very impressed by his contribution in the Champion’s League for Celtic against the likes of AC Milan.

Chic Young, praises McGeady to the heavens in his BBC column this week. For once, I’d have to agree that his hyperbole may be justified. Young appears to partly blame Celtic for McGeady's "defection" but I feel somewhere along the line the SFA have to shoulder some responsibility. I’ve mentioned McGeady before on this blog along with Hamiliton youngster, James McCarthy.Do these players really prefer to play for another country other than the one they were born and bred in or are there other factors at work? It has been suggested to me that sectarianism might be behind it all. I don’t know about that but I do wonder if every effort was made to persuade these players their future lay with Scotland. In some quarters the claim will be dismissed as paranoia. But whatever the case, it’s very frustrating when a small country like Scotland's best talents commit their international future to the Republic of Ireland.

Chic Young’s View

It's claimed there are thirty million players and fourteen thousand teams in Brazil. Little wonder the country has won five World Cups and eight Copas America. So important is the round ball there, that football makes up 4.8% of Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product.

Last year, Brazil exported no fewer than 1,086 professional footballers. A staggering 227 of these players went to Portugal - a covenient introduction to Europe where the language barrier presents no problems. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, Japan was the second most popular destination with 57 going there. In fact, Asia is clearly a profitable continent for Brazilian footballers with no less than 31 going to Hong Kong, while 27 chose China and more than twenty went to Indonesia.

Europe’s big leagues are of course the dream destination for many Brazilians. I was a little surprised to read that more players went to Italy(47)and Germany(44), than Spain. Last year 38 Brazilians took up the challenge of a move to La Liga, as they attempted to follow in the footsteps of national heroes like Ronaldinho and Robinho.

However, only six made the move to England. Perhaps England’s chilly weather combined with a very different language and culture make it less of an attraction. But than doesn’t explain why many more went to Germany.

Almost 100 Brazilians were eligible to play in this season’s European Cup. That’s nearly as many as the number of Italians(55)and Spaniards(53)put together.

Here are some of the greatest of all time, including two midfielders that would feature among the best midfielders I've seen in my lifetime: Zico and Socrates. Who says it isn't a game for the thinking man?

Information gathered from the Spanish sports daily AS, 26th Jan, 2008.