Precocious, wayward and enigmatic, Chilean playmaker Jorge Valdivia has enjoyed a colourful career flavoured by express kidnappings and the odd drunken baptism. Now, ‘El Mago’ (The Wizard), once hailed by Pele as the best player in Brazil, is key to Jorge Sampoli’s national side and their world cup prospects.

McDonalds is not a widely accepted setting for a kidnapping drama. So you can imagine Palmeiras Number 10 Jorge Valdivia’s surprise, and horror, when he and his wife were held inexplicably at gunpoint in such an establishment. The couple had been returning from a Sao Paulo shopping trip in the summer of 2012, before being accosted in a car park by an armed assailant. The man, not initially recognising the prominent footballing icon nor his celebrity partner, demanded a modest ransom – leading his hostages to a cash point, allowing them to pay the sum under the supposed threat of death.

Despite being willing to comply and indeed offering the man a number of other incentives to hasten his departure, which reportedly included the shirt on his back, Valdivia’s card limit refused to allow him withdrawal of the required funds. Upon further questioning, it slowly began to dawn on the kidnapper that the couple he held captive were not his usual fair and thus upped his ransom demands substantially. This led to a bizarre, yet brief, tour of Sao Paulo, taking in the McDonalds and a hardware store in a desperate attempt to extract the money, before, after three hours, El Mago and partner were released. Leaving them terrorised by the ordeal and their capturer a few hundred dollars (Valdivia’s withdrawal limit) better off. Unfortunately, this so called ‘Express Kidnapping’ is not a wholly unusual occurrence in Brazil, an uncomfortable truth for World Cup organisers and a potentially precarious situation for the hordes of travelling fans this summer.

A story that would be utterly shocking for most, but these curious happenings seem to stick to the Chilean forward, although some would argue, sometimes with good cause, that they are often of his own making. Indeed, astoundingly, Valdivia was accused by some of inventing the whole kidnapping tale, dismissing it as merely an attempt to engineer a move away from Palmeiras. As, to start with, his wife refused to return to Brazil out of fear for their family and the mercurial playmaker intimated he could follow suit should he not be able to guarantee their safety.

Valdivia’s trepidation eventually cooled and he agreed to stay at the Alviverde, where he remains to this day, amounting to an ongoing four year stint – a relative lifetime for Jorge. As, since leaving his homeland, he has lead an erratic and enigmatic existence which can predominantly be attributed to petulant outbursts, wild indiscipline and a number of questionable choices on his part that often see him acrimoniously dropped or hastily shuffled off to another club.

He began his career at perennial Chilean heavyweights Colo-Colo, where the young wizard was raised through the youth teams, his talents common knowledge. Although his march to success had already hit its first pothole, as off the field antics resulted in a loan move to Universidad de Concepcion, where he made his first senior start. Nevertheless, his undoubted talent shone through at the unfashionable side, aiding them to an unprecedented Copa Libertadores appearance in 2004.

A classic number 10, Valdivia drives his colleagues forward, picking the ball up deep on the turn and surging at the heart of opposition barricades or picking an incisive pass inside a fullback. His remarkably unerring close control and rapid feet along with his balance in the face of the constant buffeting of challenges smacks of an Andres Iniesta. The burgeoning potential highlighted in Chile during his early career hastened an ill-fated move to Europe. Firstly with Rayo Vallecano, although his stay in Madrid turned out to be a little truncated, as the then second tier side suffered a poor season and were eventually relegated.

A change of manager saw Valdivia drop out of favour after scoring once in just 6 league outings. A transfer to Servette proved to be equally poorly timed as, half way through the 04/05 season, the Swiss club were declared bankrupt. Unable to pay wages, an exodus of players forced Valdivia to return disconsolately to South America with only a handful of games to his name, ruing what he described as ‘rare’ experiences. Fortunately, Colo-Colo were to be his savours. Valdivia finally made his senior debut for Los Albos in 2005. After steadily developing into a prominent performer in his natural playmaker guise, El Mago triumphantly conjured up the 2006 Apertura and Clausura titles.

At still only 22 years of age, his potential was difficult to ignore and subsequently Brazilian giants Palmeiras came calling in 2007. After an intermittent first season, newly installed manager Caio Junior entrusted Jorge with the lorded number 10 jersey. The faith shown in him lead to one of the most productive periods of his career to date, culminating in a first major international excursion under Nelson Acosta at the Copa America in Venezuela that same year. However, a disastrous tournament for the national side ensued which saw Valdivia injured, Chile torn apart 6-1 by a Robinho inspired Brazil in the quarter finals and a group of Chilean players, including El Majo, embroiled in scurrilous controversy. The resulting 20 game ban that Valdivia and 5 others received, later reduced to 10 upon appeal, arose from what the Chilean FA referred to as late night ‘indisciplines’ involving a number of women a hotel in Puerto Ordaz.

In the ensuing aftermath, Acosta resigned to lead Everton (of Vina del Mar, not Merseyside) to their first Chilean title in over 30 years. While Valdivia didn’t play for national side under new man Marcelo Bielsa until the start of the 08/09 season, by which time he had signed for UAE club, Al Ain. The intervening year had proved eventful for Jorge. Former Real Madrid and Brazil coach, Vanderleri Luxemburgo had replaced Caio Junior as Palmeiras boss and led the side to the Paulista state championship crown and a fourth place Brasilerao finish. A solid season for the Verdao, in which The Wizard weaved his magic to such an extent that a return to Europe was on the cards – and with a much more established name. Confusingly however, from the variety of offers on the table, Valdivia chose to journey to the relative footballing backwater of the Arab State. A 10million Euros a year salary no small factor.

The relative insignificance of the competition he found himself in notwithstanding, Valdivia performed admirably, receiving the decidedly hollow yet delightful honour of the club’s best ever player. A proposed move to Manchester City never materialised and, despite being offered a remarkable life-time contract by Al Ain, he was soon back in Brazil for a second spell at Palmeiras. World Cup winning manager Luis Felipe Scolari was to be his new coach.

Big Phil had also been recently recruited after a two year stint in Uzbekistan with Bunyodkor, a fan favourite having led Palmeiras to their sole Copa Libertadores title in 1999. Palmeiras president Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo proclaimed “I want to give love to the fans. In the streets people always spoke of Luis Felipe Scolari and Valdivia. I hope they are now satisfied.” Bulluzzo’s dream combination didn’t quite coalesce as intended. A disappointing tenth place finish was all that came of the Alviverde’s initial title ambitions. While, although his undoubted cult status amongst supporters remained intact, Valdivia produced a less than spellbinding string of performances.

The marriage fans pined for became a messy, inharmonious affair, sprinkled with a number of widely reported spats between Felipao and Valdivia and Valdivia and Director of Football, Vladimir Pescarmona. Issues surrounding El Mago’s levels of fitness, repeated injury problems, inconsistent performances and overall attitude on and off the pitch were unceremoniously aired on several occasions. Valdivia had to apologise publicly to Scolari after petulantly expressing his dissatisfaction at being substituted against Cruzeiro, video cameras caught him urinating on the pitch during a Copa do Brasil quarter final, rumours concerning Valdivia and a number of women, aside from his wife, continually surrounded him and he was ‘forced’ to sign a document, which he described as ‘illegal’, stating he would avoid injuries and stay fit during the off-season – despite Valdivia’s initial refusal and the rest of the squad complying without much fuss. Clearly, Jorge had other plans.

Valdivia saw this treatment as a personal affront, bemoaning a lack of respect and threatening to quit the club should attitudes not change. “If I am not respected, we will have to sit down and talk about everything. If with the trainer and the directors there is no problem, we’ll terminate my contract and we will look at the best way for me to leave. What I will not tolerate is people talking badly about me.” he volleyed angrily. This didn’t stop the aforementioned trainer comparing him to Neymar that same season after a performance resembling his potential zenith. Perhaps most surprisingly, despite offers from a number of clubs including Malaga, River Plate and Fluminense, Valdivia remains the Palmeiras number 10.

After the 2010 World Cup, in which Valdivia featured prominently, Claudio Borghi (who led Colo-Colo to that 2006 title) replaced Bielsa, who in turn left for the Colo post. Inevitably however, a year later Valdivia was once again banished after accusing his manager of lying after drunkenly flaunting a curfew at a Chile training camp before a World Cup Qualifier against Uruguay, supposedly after celebrating his daughter’s baptism.

Borghi had found a swathe of empty rooms after running a bed check at the 10pm deadline. Valdivia along with Arturo Vidal, Jean Beausejour, Gonzalo Jara and Carlos Carmona were all absent, reportedly staggering in at 10.45 somewhat worse for wear, after an evening that, Borghi claimed, took in the baptism and a night club. El Mago again protested that “the thing about us leaving my place at 8:00 p.m. to go to the Equine club is a complete lie. We do not deny the mistake we made, but we will not accept Borghi’s comments. What he said was not true, which is surprising”.

This ‘apology’ and the acceptance that their actions were irresponsible aside, the ‘El Bautizazo’ scandal, as it is known, didn’t sit well with the Chile faithful. One fan site, seleccionchilean.com, was so disgusted by the player’s actions that it went on strike, shutting down for 24 hours, expressing “unease and repudiation” at the events. Stating; “We firmly believe that a professional soccer player can’t or mustn’t behave like our compatriots have behaved. Our players represent our country on and off the field. Our understanding is that this gives a bad example to future generations of soccer players as well as our youth.” Borghi was equally unimpressed and didn’t pick Valdivia again.

Another Jorge, Sampaoli, was to be Valdivia’s latest rescuer. The new national boss recalled the playmaker to the squad and promptly put his faith in him, entrusting him with a sizeable chunk of the attacking responsibilities. Sampaoli recently described him to FIFA.com as “key to the kind of football that we play, because he’s a class apart – like Messi for Argentina, Ronaldo for Portugal or Ribery for France. We need him at his best.” With Jorge’s record, it’s an undeniable risk – but a worthwhile one. There are few players as gifted as El Mago and those that are, aren’t Chilean. If he can manage responsibility, temperament and condition Valdivia could be the man to drive an already impressive Chile squad into the later stages this summer.

Sampaoli is likely to employ Valdivia in a false 9 position, with Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez either side while utilising the runs of Arturo Vidal from deep, a position Valdivia occupied similarly from the start against Honduras and Spain in South Africa in the absence of the more traditional striker, Humberto Suazo. It suits Jorge’s talents perfectly, comparisons in style and skill set with a certain Lionel Messi are by no means outlandish. While Sampaoli insists that Chile can, and will, impose their all-action, attacking style on any nation, refusing to compromise their footballing edict.

However, El Mago’s starting place may not be an entirely cemented one as with both 2010 finalists Holland and Spain across their path, a slightly more pragmatic approach may be used initially. This may see Vidal take the number 10 role for these challenging encounters, utilising his swashbuckling, lung busting presence to martial the team in all areas of the pitch, although Valdivia will surely start the opener against Australia, and be a prominent character in the remaining fixtures, even if a little belatedly so.

In December 2012, astoundingly, Palmeiras were relegated to the second tier of Brazilian football. The Verdao endured a polarising season that simultaneously saw them, equally remarkably, qualify for the Copa Libertadores by winning the Copa do Brasil. Valdivia scored the opening goal from the penalty spot and managed to get himself sent off in a 2-0 first leg final win over Coritiba – a season and a match that sum up the Chilean magician perfectly. But, the questions remain – which Valdivia will we witness in Brazil? The playboy or the playmaker? Will it be drunken excursions or assists, goals and plaudits? A relatively stable period in Brazil has seen Valdivia take the vice-captaincy at Palmeiras, a sign of budding maturity? Possibly. For now, it’s anyone’s guess. With Chile potentially on the cusp of something magical, it’s up to Jorge Sampaoli to finally cajole this mercurial talent into the performances he’s always promised, which his talent has always demanded but he has never delivered. Now, approaching 31 years of age, this might be the sorcerer’s last stand.