Kleberson: It would have been easier at Manchester United had Ronaldinho been there

A couple of things quickly become apparent when Kleberson comes into view with a big toothy Brazilian smile and an American accent that, with all respect, comes as a bit of a surprise.

The first is that his English has dramatically improved since his days at Manchester United when, by his own admission, he struggled badly to understand the language. And the second is that maybe something rubbed off from his time with Sir Alex Ferguson, that famous early riser. It is 6am. Kleberson wants to do this interview before sunrise in New York and he seems surprised when it is put to him that, cripes, it is a bit early.

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This, he explains, is his daily routine: up before the sun breaks, a bit of breakfast and into the training ground with his hair still damp from the morning shower. Kleberson, 43, is the assistant coach at New York City FC.

It makes him part of the City Football Group, the empire that has Manchester City at its forefront and clubs from five different continents under its umbrella.

But the conversation inevitably takes us back to Old Trafford, almost 20 years since Kleberson was ushered onto the pitch with an 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo to hold up a scarf and pose for photographs as the club’s new signings.

One of those players had a reputation for being among the most coveted talents on the market. He wore leather trousers with a diamond stud in his ear and braces on his teeth. The other was Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I remember both of us were nervous,” recalls Kleberson. “We could not speak the language but we tried our best to understand as we went on the pitch for the photos. At the next game, they introduced us to the fans. That was my first experience of the atmosphere. That was when I felt, ‘Oh my gosh, this club is amazing’.”

Funny how it works out. While Ronaldo went on to become a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, there were only sporadic moments when Kleberson lived up to his reputation from starring in Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning squad alongside Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu, Roberto Carlos and, of course, football’s original Ronaldo.

All of which was a great shame for United bearing in mind Kleberson’s performances had Brazil’s manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, describing him as the “driving force” of that World Cup and “always the first name on the team list, ahead of players like Ronaldo”.

Brazil had started the tournament with Juninho Paulista operating alongside Gilberto Silva in midfield. Kleberson, then of Athletico Paranaense, came in for the quarter-final against England, completely eclipsed Paul Scholes in the game that will always be remembered for Ronaldinho’s free kick over David Seaman, and kept his place.

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“It was like a dream,” says Kleberson, one of Brazil’s standout performers in the final against Germany. “I was playing with guys who, at that time, were like something out of a video game to me.

“I had my role and I didn’t have to do much. But I did feel like I was the key for the Brazilian team at that time. Gilberto Silva missed having someone to help him. When Scolari trusted me to play, everything started to connect.”

He cost United £6million ($7.1m), their first-ever Brazilian signing, in an era when that was a substantial amount of money within top-flight football. Kleberson had turned 24 that summer, arriving with his wife, Dayane, and a large entourage of her family. When he talks of Manchester, there is affection in his voice. It was, he says, a part of his life he will always treasure.

But there were some challenging times. “The culture was so different. We didn’t speak English. I remember being in a hotel for weeks and then months.

“We tried to talk to other people, to order some food in a restaurant, but it’s really difficult when you move to a different country and don’t speak the language. Manchester, at that time, didn’t have a Brazilian restaurant or supermarket. My wife was very young and we didn’t have many friends.”

Kleberson had been signed to replace Juan Sebastian Veron, who had just moved to Chelsea, and maybe it would have been easier for him to settle in if Ronaldinho had not simultaneously abandoned his proposed move to Old Trafford.

In one of those sliding doors moments, everything was pretty much agreed for Ronaldinho, then 23, to join the then-Premier League champions. But this was also the summer David Beckham left for Real Madrid and that had a knock-on effect.

Joan Laporta had just won Barcelona’s presidential elections with the promise of bringing a global superstar to the club. Beckham was no longer an option and, in one of the greatest plan Bs in football history, Ronaldinho was eventually persuaded to abandon Manchester and soak up some Catalan sunshine instead.

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“I talked to Ronaldinho a lot about Manchester United at that time,” says Kleberson. “I remember him saying to me, ‘They want to sign us, what do you think?’

“I was saying, ‘Yeah, I’m going! Manchester United? Very nice, That’s a big club’. After that, I never spoke to him about it anymore. I don’t know why he decided against it. But for me, it would have been easier if Ronaldinho had been there. We were big friends and had played together at the World Cup.”

Two decades on, Kleberson also makes the point that a lot has changed in the world since he used to carry a Portuguese-to-English dictionary around with him everywhere he went in Manchester.

One dressing room scene, in particular, tells its own story. “Our sponsor at that time was Vodafone,” says Kleberson, and now he is laughing. “I still remember everyone being so amazed the first time they had a camera on a cellphone.

“The technology now is completely different. You can search everything now on the internet, get the news from your city, what to do, where to go. If you’re home at 11pm and want some food, you just get your phone and scroll down. In my time in Manchester, there was nothing like that.”

It is a reminder, perhaps, why United and all the other elite clubs have beefed up their player-care departments in recent years. “It used to be: get a house, a car, then figure it out yourself,” says Kleberson. “Today it’s different. The players have a lot more people to help them.”

Kleberson, or Jose Kleberson Pereira to give him his full name, sees that every day in his current role with New York City FC, where he operates as the No 2 to Nick Cushing, formerly the manager of Manchester City women’s team.

The Brazilian’s life in the United States began in 2013 when he signed for Philadelphia Union having spent the previous six years in his home country with Flamengo, Athletico Paranaense and Bahia. Determined to make the most of it, Kleberson made a concerted attempt to get a better grasp of the language (hence the Parana-Pennsylvania accent).

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There were further playing spells with Indy Eleven and Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL before returning to Philadelphia to take a coaching role in their academy. That was followed by a more senior coaching position with their affiliate club, Philadelphia Union II, then the chance to switch to New York City.

“It’s a big club and a big organisation,” he says. “We have a lot of Brazilian players and they wanted an experienced Brazilian to help and inspire them. I accepted the role because that’s what I can do very well.”

Kleberson knows, after all, how difficult it can be to adjust to a new country. He was, in Ferguson’s words, “an example of the risks associated with making a purchase in a hurry”.

United wanted somebody who would eventually take over from Roy Keane and, ideally, that would have been Patrick Vieira. In his 2013 autobiography, Ferguson accepts he ended up with the wrong player. “Lovely lad, but he lacked the confidence to learn English,” he wrote. “In games he displayed terrific stamina and a high degree of skill but was unable to impose his personality.”

Kleberson will accept it was, for the most part, a disappointing two years before he left for Besiktas in Turkey. He talks about how hard it was, in particular, to understand Ferguson’s Glaswegian burr. There were similar difficulties with Keane, especially when the Irishman was angry and his accent became more pronounced.

Still, though, Kleberson has good memories. “Roy was the guy in the locker room who pushed everyone a lot. Sometimes people thought it was too much but, for me, it wasn’t.

“We needed guys in the locker room like him because, in the end, he fought for his team. I remember he would always scream at me in training or in games but if something ever went wrong, if someone had kicked me, he went straight to the other player. It’s a really cool culture he has.”

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As for the bigger picture, there were other factors to explain why Kleberson struggled for consistency. Ferguson recalls him being “so timid he could barely look you in the eye”. Yet Kleberson was used out of position as a wide man sometimes. Injuries did not help either.

“In the year before I joined Manchester United, I played 62 games in a season,” says Kleberson. “I tried to adapt my style of play. I tried to learn the way United play. It was so different, though.

“I got some injuries and that pushed me back. I was competing against guys like Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs. Those guys were big stars who understood the culture.

“Plus the Premier League is so competitive — a lot of transition, a lot of long balls, the opponents are always close to you. In Brazil, if I was playing in the middle, I might have time to control the ball, take a turn and find the space to shoot at goal. In England, there were two or three guys blocking the shot.

“It’s about adaptation. Some players arrive at a club and they are amazing straight away. Others need time. I’m almost jealous of those guys who come to England and first time, boom, they are playing at that level.”

Casemiro, for example? Kleberson still follows the Premier League on television and takes a particular interest in United’s Brazilian contingent.

“Casemiro is leadership, no?” he says. “This is why he played for so many years with Brazil’s national team and had such a great career with Real Madrid. He controls the game, he controls the players. He’s really a key player and he always has everyone’s respect because of all the titles he has won.”

Kleberson is speaking to The Athletic via his involvement with OLBG and we are talking, it should be pointed out, before United’s 7-0 drubbing at Liverpool. Overall, though, Kleberson is happy Fred has shown he can be a suitable wearer of United’s colours, too.

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“In the beginning, it was really difficult for him. There was a lot of transition. New coaches and new players arrived and left. One game Fred was playing deep, then sometimes higher. Now, he is doing well; I think he’s a big boy now.”

Kleberson, it seems, is also a big boy now. Older and wiser with a coaching career ahead of him, looking to the future and learning from the past.

(Top photo: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

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