RICARDINHO believes the standard of football in Sky Bet League One surpasses what he has experienced elsewhere in his career.

The left back got his first taste of English football on Saturday, when he impressed during Oxford United’s 3-0 win at home to Portsmouth.

And the well-travelled 32-year-old, who has played in his native Brazil, plus top-flight football in Sweden and Azerbaijan, reckons League One is the best of the lot.

He said: “I guess here the quality is higher than Azerbaijan and even the first league in Sweden.

“It’s different because we have good players here from many different countries.

“This improves our level and we have great English players who work so hard.

“They understand the tactics and when they get the ball they play.”

The former Malmo defender timed his debut well.

Helped by Pompey selling out their allocation, there were more than 9,500 supporters inside the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

For Ricardinho, the atmosphere was another reason to enthuse about his move to the U’s.

He said: “I missed this a lot when I was in Azerbaijan, because I was in a small city and we didn’t have so many fans.

“It was only for the Europa League games, but they came just to enjoy football, they weren’t big fans of Gabala.

“Here we have all the fans and they came to support us.

“They are really interested to see what we can give to them and this is special.

“I guess they can go home having enjoyed the football and they understand we have a good team and we can get good things this season.”

Ricardinho was planning to be back in the gym yesterday while his teammates enjoyed a day off as he bids to improve his fitness levels.

Although his debut went very well, it was overshadowed by the impact made by another of United’s overseas signings.

And Ricardinho was as blown away by Gino van Kessel’s goal as everyone else, before joking he wanted the forward to stay away from him in training.

“I hope he doesn’t come to me,” he said.

“It was a great game.

“Gino was good defensively and protected our goal and when he had the ball he was confident.

“He tried to play good passes and his goal was amazing.

“We didn’t expect that because he was against maybe three defenders.

“He could have gone back, but he’s quick and strong.

“It was great, congratulations to him."

He added: “It’s good when you come up against players like that in training because then we play better in the game.”

“Now we have a week where we can rest and talk to fix our mistakes and improve our level as a team.”

  • NEW doubts over Marvin Johnson's future at United emerged last night.

Unconfirmed reports suggested the winger had told boss Pep Clotet he wants to leave.

No-one at the U's was available for comment, but a bid from Hull City, believed to be in the region of £1m, was rejected last week.

Chairman Darryl Eales has said the club would only consider an "unbelievable offer" for the 26-year-old.