 He started out playing on the beach as a hard–tackling central defender or as a central defensive midfielder in his youth; however, during his time with the Fluminense youth side, his manager Carlo Carlomagno decided to deploy him as a centre-forward, in order to limit his possibility of committing fouls and being booked.He excelled in this new attacking role, due to his speed, technique, vision, passing, intelligence, positioning, ability to read the game, heading, and accurate finishing ability with his feet, which made him a prolific goalscorer.Although he primarily played upfront, he was often known for dropping into midfield in order to retrieve the ball, as he preferred to play with the ball at his feet.