7 PLAYERS WHO FELL OFF THE FOOTBALLING MAP AFTER MOVING TO BRAZIL

Brazilian football is full of wonderkids destined to move to Europe and ageing veterans seeing out the twilight years of their careers back home.

Estevao Willian and Thiago Silva are good examples of the opposite ends of the spectrum we’re talking about, but there are also the players in their prime years who were never quite good enough to reach the top of the game in Europe but nevertheless possess the ability to make a decent living there.

But there are also some familiar faces – the odd European, or South Americans going back – who have signed for Brazilian clubs when they might not have expected or planned to.

We’ve identified seven players who have totally fallen off the footballing map since going to Brazil.

Jamal Lewis

In fairness, Lewis had probably dropped off most people’s radars long before his failed move on loan to Sao Paulo, given he’d fallen out of favour at Newcastle United after their takeover.

Last season he didn’t exactly set the pulses racing on loan in Watford’s midtable campaign.

We couldn’t help but love the refreshing weirdness of a Northern Ireland international rocking up for one of the most vociferously supported clubs in South America, but it just didn’t work out for him.

He made a total of six appearances (three starts) and was recalled by the Magpies after an ankle injury suffered in November.

Memphis Depay

As we mentioned with Lewis, there’s a novelty in Europeans making the lesser-trodden path to South America. It doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as the other way around.

In fact, we’d love to see more top players – yer Dimitri Payets, De Rossis, Trezeguets and Seedorfs – go out there, so it was lovely to see Memphis Depay sign for Brazilian giants Corinthians after his career had stagnated a little in Spain.

He actually made a brilliant start for the club, notching seven goals and four assists in his first 14 appearances in the latter half of their 2024 campaign.

It’ll be interesting to see what he’s got cooking for his first full season over there, but the unfortunate truth is that whatever he does for Corinthians is unlikely to make any great waves for a more Europe-focused footballing media.

Memphis still factors into Ronald Koeman’s plans for the Netherlands, which is only right given his exceptional record at international level.

“I disapproved of Steven Bergwijn’s move to Saudi, with Memphis it can be different,” Koeman told reporters.

“The level of the league in Brazil is different, so yes, he can still be part of the national team, but it depends on his fitness and if he reaches his level.”

READ: 7 players who fell off the footballing map after moving to Saudi Arabia

Lucas Moura

Moura has enjoyed a considerably better time of it at Sao Paulo, his boyhood club, than Lewis.

After being released by Tottenham in 2023, the attacker returned home on a short-term deal but refound his mojo and extended his stay.

He’s won a Copa do Brasil and Supercopa during his second stint at the Estadio do Morumbi and will be gunning for more in 2025. Last year he even received his first Brazil caps in six years.

It’s nice to see Moura back enjoying his football after his career in Europe fizzled out so underwhelmingly, but we’d be surprised if this heartwarming homecoming makes any real waves outside of Brazil.

Carlos Alcaraz

You might remember the tennis wonderkid’s namesake (do you call them wonderkids in tennis? We’ll ask our mates at Tennis365 and get back to you) from his short-lived spell at Southampton and even shorter-lived loan to Juventus.

This Alcaraz – Argentinian, not Spanish – caught the eye for his penchant for scoring the odd blooter in Southampton’s doomed relegation campaign and first half-season back in the Championship before not doing much of anything at all in Turin.

He was talked up for a move to a bigger Premier League club but instead he returned to South America, joining Flamengo for a club-record €18million fee… and was promptly shown a straight red card on his debut.

Everton Soares

We’re still fuming that long-rumoured move to Goodison Park never materialised. Eat your heart out, Arsene Wenger at Arsenal or Wolfgang Wolf at Wolfsburg.

Everton shone at the Copa America in 2019, winning the Golden Boot after a goalscoring, man-of-the-match display in Brazil’s 3-1 final victory over Peru. Back then he was a recurring character in the tabloid gossip columns.

It always felt inevitable that the forward would have a stint in Europe, but two trophyless years with Benfica and just 15 goals in 95 appearances for the club ultimately disappointed.

He’s actually done alright since returning to Brazil with Flamengo in 2021, winning a Copa Libertadores and two Copa do Brasil, but he hasn’t had an international call-up in over three years and we can’t see him back in the Selecao fold any time soon.

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Enner Valencia

Who could forget the Ecuadorian being chased by police while being transported on a medical buggy in a World Cup qualifier back in 2016?

Since then he kind of fell out of the footballing mainstream following his fairly rubbish spells with West Ham and Everton, with three years out at Mexican outfit Tigres.

In 2020 he joined Fenerbahce and joined that wonderful club of familiar faces you’re vaguely aware enjoyed a late-career second wind in the Turkish Super League.

The Edin Dzeko zone? The Mauro Icardi vortex? The Fabio Borini conundrum? All band names free to a good home.

Alongside that free-scoring stint in Istanbul, Valencia has offered reminders of his existence with appearances in a further three Copa America as well as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Unfortunately, we’ve heard less about the enigmatic striker since he joined Internacional in 2023. We’d call you a liar if you said you knew he was playing his football in Brazil nowadays.

Marquinhos

No, not that one. Brazil stalwart Marquinhos didn’t quietly move back home; the experienced defender is still captaining PSG, now into his 12th season with the Ligue 1 giants.

This Marquinhos is still contracted to a top European club – Arsenal – but we’d be amazed if he has a future at the Emirates given his dismal record in a series of loans away.

The winger is still only 21 but only has a grand total of one league goal (in the Championship, for Norwich) in his career to date, having failed to notch in the Brasileiro Serie A for Sao Paulo or Fluminense, in the Premier League for Arsenal or Ligue 1 for Nantes.

We’d have loved to see the meltdown on AFTV if Mikel Arteta promised he was the answer to their current woes in the final third, but the Gunners have just sent him back to Brazil to sign on loan with Cruzeiro.

Here’s hoping he fares better than the last loan, in which he only managed a couple of cup goals for Fluminense across the entirety of their 2024 campaign.

2025-01-14T08:17:16Z