The last place you would expect to find a “football fairytale” is Girona. The Spanish side are part of the City Football Group’s (CFG) ever-growing portfolio of clubs around the world – 44.3% owned by CFG; another 44.3% by a group led by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola’s brother, Pere. Girona’s recent successes have been underpinned by that relationship and a steady stream of players on loan from CFG has helped them establish themselves in La Liga for the first time in their 93-year history.
But they have gone even further this season thanks to a sensational opening run that put them firmly in the title conversation, thrilling neutral fans in the process, before slipping back to third place behind Real Madrid and Barcelona.
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Girona have been displaying some of the best attacking football in the world this season and, with a stadium that seats almost 15,000 spectators, watching them live has become a privileged experience.
At the centre of it all has been Sávio (aka Savinho), a 19-year-old Brazilian winger on loan from Ligue 2 side Troyes (a club also in the CFG group) who has emerged from nowhere. Sávio has become so good, so quickly, that Manchester City have signed him permanently for an initial fee of €25m, plus a possible €15m in options, this summer.
This marks a remarkable and rapid rise for a player whose value could hardly have been lower just 12 months ago.
An unusual modern mystery
Raised in the interior of Espírito Santo, Sávio helped his family on his grandparents' farm before becoming a footballer. “We grew okra, lettuce… I drank milk and I liked to ride horses, but weeding under the scorching sun is bad,” he recently told ESPN Brasil. “Every time I go on vacation I go back there and work because it's something I enjoy.”
Sávio stood out from a young age on the pitch and is named in homage to former Brazilian international winger Sávio Bortolini (who played for Real Madrid and Flamengo, among others, during his career from 1993 to 2010). When he moved with his family to Vitória and began playing at school, Sávio impressed enough to join the youth academy of Brazilian giants Atlético Mineiro in 2018, where he signed his first contract two years later.
Troyes signed the 18-year-old for an initial fee of €6m from Atletico in 2022. The winger had played fewer than 1,000 minutes for the first team since making his senior debut in 2020, so it is no surprise that he seemed a mystery to many when he landed in Europe. But just as he was getting a chance to showcase his talents at a wider level, a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven was severely disrupted by hamstring problems and he only played 95 minutes in the Eredivisie in his first European season.
The following year he was loaned to Girona and, when asked to recount the circumstances of the Brazilian's arrival last summer, Opta analyst Robbie Dunne told ESPN: “Honestly, not many [in Spain] they knew who he was. [Girona] I had lost Rodrigo Riquelme [who returned to Atlético after his loan spell]who played on the left wing, and it was widely accepted that whoever replaced him would not be as good.
“They signed Pablo Torre [from Barcelona] “Sávio was on loan and played a bit on the left wing in pre-season, so it seemed like not even Girona knew what they had at the time. It was a gamble that paid off.”
In short, Sávio's move to Girona was like many other CFG signings (such as Yangel Herrera or Pablo Maffeo) in that it was a case of shuffling around pieces of the portfolio and seeing what could happen. On the face of it, it was a standard transfer like so many others before it, but after the 2022-23 season proved to be a failure for the winger, he surprised many with his explosive impact.
What sets it apart?
With 11 goals and 10 assists in 41 games across all competitions, Sávio has proven to be one of the most productive attacking players in LaLiga this season. The confidence he exudes when getting past opposing full-backs is astonishing, using a variety of moves to get past them and create space, and he looks like he has been feeling comfortable at the top for years.
In modern football, Sávio is a bit of an anachronism, as he is a left-footer who thrives on the left flank and has played around 80% of his minutes there so far. But he can also play as an inverted winger from the right, something he did regularly in Brazil. He usually sticks to the touchline, keeping the width of the field and hoping to isolate the opposing full-back. Of course, with a footballing education that began in Brazil, he has a few tricks up his sleeve, including a ferocious stop-and-go move, but he apparently prefers to strike the ball into space and use his speed to get past a defender if possible.
Sávio regularly creates space between himself and his marker, opening up opportunities to shoot or pass, and is refreshingly selfless in these situations, as evidenced by the fact he averages just 1.38 shots per 90 minutes in LaLiga.
His impact has been so impressive that he has drawn stylistic comparisons to Real Madrid's Vinícius Jr. and Athletic Club's Nico Williams, which is high praise considering what they have achieved in their careers to date. He managed 102 completed dribbles in LaLiga and was the youngest to break the 100-dribble barrier since a certain Lionel Messi managed 106 in 2008-09.
In fact, Girona coach Michel knew the Catalans would have a great season in La Liga after watching Savio's first training session with the team.
“Savio is the player who has had the biggest impact,” Michel said. “He is the best player I have ever coached… The impact he has had has been amazing. I was stunned when I saw him in action in the first training session and I said to him: [Girona sporting director] Quique Cárcel said that we would finish in the top eight and, look, we have done even better. We are living a dream because we have only been in the First Division for four years and in the 2021-22 campaign we were in the Second Division.”
Whats Next?
The big question for the summer is whether Sávio will be loaned back to Girona to take part in what is likely to be the club's first Champions League campaign, or whether he will be immediately integrated into Guardiola's squad to compete with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Jérémy Doku for one of the two wide positions in the City XI.
Sávio could certainly bring a different profile to City's squad if he stays, offering the same presence as a left-sided winger that Leroy Sané used to have, or that Foden has had at times since the Germany international left for Bayern Munich. From that position, he would offer explosiveness and guile, somewhat blending the skills of Doku and Grealish.
Guardiola doesn’t use that style of winger at the moment (the closest is Doku, but he’s usually deployed as an inverted winger from the left), but the next tactical change is just around the corner as he strives to freshen things up and remain unpredictable. So, while it may be a little difficult to foresee his potential role now, the picture could look completely different by August, allowing Sávio to slot comfortably into the team.
Ultimately, regardless of how City decide to use him, the story surrounding his summer signing is very different to that of less than a year ago. Sávio is no longer a secret.
