Juan Quintero shone in Colombia’s World Cup defeat to Japan but should Premier League giants Arsenal really be considering him?
Few would have predicted that James Rodriguez would be overshadowed by another Colombian play-maker in their World Cup defeat to Japan on Tuesday afternoon.
James looked half-fit, perhaps because he was, when he came off the bench early in the second half as Jose Pekerman’s ten men began their tournament campaign with a shock 2-1 loss. And, quite ironically, the man James replaced in a desperate throw of the dice was by far Colombia’s best player in the opening period.
In fact, the South Americans were only level at the break thanks to a wonderful piece of invention from Juan Quintero. A superb free-kick rolled under the wall capped an impressive 45-minute display in which he produced a number of intelligent passes in the absence of the Bayern Munich talisman.
It has been a difficult couple of years for Quintero, who was forced to join Argentine club River Plate earlier in 2018 due to a lack of opportunities at FC Porto. But should this sort of display be enough to earn Quintero another chance in Europe.
Arsenal fans in particular certainly believe that the skilful, suave Quintero would be a fine addition to Unai Emery’s Emirates revolution.
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