The Next Brilliant Brazilian

Young and ruthless? Check. Immense talent? Check. Natural scoring instincts? Check. Enough confidence to start for one of Europe's top clubs? Check. An elite boot for an elite player? Check.

Alexandre Pato is the new Brazilian striker on the block. He represents the next generation of speed, which his blazing orange Mercs testify to every time he steps onto the pitch. His name may not start with an "R," like his childhood heroes - Robinho, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho - but after honing his craft in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the young upstart exploded onto the international scene at this summer's U-20 Youth Cup in Canada. Shortly after, he signed with Milan and took to the field for the Rossoneri almost as soon as he turned eighteen.

A lot of clubs pursued his services and offered huge contracts, but only one had "the true Phenomenon" as a mentor. As fate would have it, the two strikers trained together for less than a month, because of Ronaldo's injury. It wasn't a long time, but fortunately just enough to ensure that Pato got off on the right foot.

In his very first match he scored in a 5-2 win over Napoli (Ronaldo had two himself) and went on to put in three more goals in the next five games. Now the comparisons to some of soccer's greatest scorers are coming in from all angles - club and country.

It's pretty easy to stay up on Pato news online, and you'll definitely want to with all the Serie A games coming up and the CL second-leg against Arsenal. This is probably the most devoted blog in English, and there's a host of Youtube videos to browse.

Keep up. This duck has only just begun to take flight.