Vanderson (22) began the season brightly with AS Monaco, starting the Principality club’s first seven games of the Ligue 1 season before receiving his second call-up to the Brazil national team. However, upon his return to club football, he suffered a knee injury during the victory over Olympique de Marseille and he has not featured since.
He returned to the squad against Le Havre AC at the weekend and is therefore expected to be fit to face Paris Saint-Germain after the international break. With many of his teammates away on international duty, Vanderson was present to sign autographs and greet young fans at Monaco’s ‘Kids Tour’ and speak to Get French Football News.
You’ve been absent since the victory over Marseille in late September. Are you ready to return, and is there a disappointment at having missed out on the Brazil squad through injury?
I missed five matches, but I’m feeling good now. I am ready to return for Monaco now. I am disappointed to have missed out on a call-up for Brazil. I need to be focused on what is going on here. We’ll see (about a future call-up) but there is disappointment.
How have the first weeks been with Adi Hütter?
There has been a change in mentality. Everyone feels good. We’ve really adapted to his principles of play and we’ve had a good start to the season.
Monaco have had a lot of success against PSG in recent times. How do you explain that and could this be a key match for the title?
It’s a big match. I don’t know (why we’ve had such success against PSG recently). We work a lot to prepare for all of the matches. As we have done in recent years, we’re going to try and play a good match and take the three points. We’re going to try and finish as high as possible this season, finish in the Europa League or Champions League. A key match for the title? Maybe, but everyone wants to win the title. Last season, we didn’t finish high enough, we’ll try and finish as high as possible this season, that’s the objective.
How is your relationship with your compatriot, Thiago Scuro, who became sporting director at the Principality club this summer?
I have a good relationship with him. We speak the same language, which is good for helping me, but also for him too. He is a good sporting director, well-known in Brazil and we have a good personal relationship.
