€24.6m (plus bonuses) and the transfer of Vítor Hugo Gomes Paços (Pelé) to Porto: that’s how much bringing Ricardo Quaresma to Inter cost Massimo Moratti. In other words: the most expensive Serie A transfer of the year (so far), but based purely on skills the lad seems to be worth every penny.

“I am glad to be here, I have the feeling I’ve just joined a great club, so I feel a big degree of responsibility on me” said Quaresma during his presentation. “I feel physically great, psychologically I’m even better because the long transfer negotiations with Porto are finally over“. Indeed, it took many trips to Portugal by Marco Branca for the Nerazzurri to finally snatch the Portuguese winger, but as of now, José Mourinho should be fairly satisfied with his recruiting campaign (all the players he asked for came to Milano, with the only notable exception of Frank Lampard).

Trivela

Quaresma needs no introduction: his skills & technique have been showcased on the international scene long enough, and everyone should be aware by now this guy’s a good player. A very good player. The comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo aren’t a surprise either, given how similar the two players are (it’s no coincidence that C.Ronaldo, Quaresma, Nani, and Joao Moutinho all come from the same generation of players grown by the Sporting Lisbon youth system).

However, Serie A fans might not be fully familiar with Quaresma’s “home special”, the spectacular outside-foot shooting/passing technique the Portuguese winger perfected over the years. A technique otherwise known as Trivela.

Now, I know what some of you might be saying. “Big deal. Shooting with the outside that’s no invention”. Indeed it isn’t. But tagging Quaresma’s trivela as a simple “outside-foot” shot would be overly simplistic. I think in this case, it’s better to let images speak for themselves:

Note that this type of trick is obviously reminiscent of Roberto Carlos, but while the Brazilian left-back used this type of shot primarily to take free-kicks, Quaresma does it on-the-run and applies it to passes, crosses and shots as well.

He wasn’t the first one to do so either, although he certainly perfected the technique. Serbian midfielder Ljubinko Drulović (who played at Porto from years 1993 to 2001) often used the Trivela to give assists. Also, a big legend from the mythical 1970 Brazil team, Roberto Rivelino, was nicknamed três dedos (“three fingers” in Portuguese), to indicate the 3 outside fingers of his foot he used to kick the ball. And in addition to Roberto Carlos, Branco was another one of those long-range Brazilian specialist to kick the ball with the outside…

If you are interested in receiving tips & pointers on how to perfect the trick (from Quaresma himself), he’s got a video up on the UEFA.com Training Ground.

One thing’s for sure though: with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s elasticos, Quaresma’s trivelas, and Mancini’s step-overs (not to mention Jose Mourinho’s openly-attacking 4-3-3 formation), Inter Milan’s games should be fairly entertaining this year.