A recent segment in a sports bulletin on Brazilian television nicely captured the excitement – and bewilderment – caused by the influx of European players.
It started with a montage of goals scored by Memphis Depay, signed by Corinthians last week, a move that has sent large parts of the Sao Paulo club’s fan base into delirium. Clips of supporters recreating the Dutch forward’s trademark fingers-in-ears goal celebration were just a small sample of what can be expected in the coming months.
Then came images of other players: Denmark international Martin Braithwaite; Maxime Dominguez, a midfielder from Switzerland; French 20-year-old Mohamed El Arouch; former Norwich City and Newcastle United full-back Jamal Lewis.
All have signed for clubs in Brazil since the end of the 2023/24 European season. The TV segment playfully labeled the recap as a “Tour of Random Gringos.”
However, this is not even the full extent of it. The full version of the list would also include former French playmaker Dimitri Payet, who has played for Vasco da Gama since August 2023, and Tobias Figueiredo, once a Portuguese player at youth level and now on loan at Criciuma from Fortaleza. Spaniard Hector Hernandez is a possible attacking partner for Depay at Corinthians. There is also Yannick Bolasie, also at Criciuma. He may have played fifty times for DR Congo, but he was born in France and raised in England, making him European enough to count as an import from what the Brazilians call the Old Continent.
A historic move for @Jamal_lewis1 🇧🇷🔥
Congratulations to our client Jamal Lewis who transferred a loan to Brazilian giants @Sao PauloFC ✍️ #SPFC #NUFC pic.twitter.com/DakkLuKHb8
— PLG (@PLG_agency) September 3, 2024
No matter how you cut it, it’s a striking trend. There have been Europeans in Brazil before – Serbian playmaker Dejan Petkovic is considered a legend at Flamengo and Clarence Seedorf had a memorable late career at Botafogo – but never before in the modern era have there been so many at once. With the numbers likely to rise even further, it seems like a good time to ask the obvious question: what the heck is going on?
For starters, the laws governing the use of players from outside Brazil have been relaxed. Two years ago, clubs were allowed to use a maximum of five foreigners in a matchday selection. In 2023, this was changed to seven. In March, the clubs in the top division of the Campeonato Brasileiro voted unanimously in favor of another increase in the limit, to nine.
The impact of these changes is felt most strongly in South America. Brazil has been absorbing talent from Argentina, Uruguay and its other neighboring countries for years; Now they can really let loose. Current leaders Botafogo have six non-Brazilian South Americans in their ranks, as do second-placed Palmeiras. Gremio, the traditional home of many such ‘hermanos’, has nine. However, the extra leeway has also brought other markets into the equation.
It helps that Brazilian football has become broadly more receptive to outside voices over the past decade. Portuguese coaches Jorge Jesus and Abel Ferreira have had tremendous success and blazed a trail that many others have followed. The local football federation wanted to break with tradition and appoint Carlo Ancelotti as coach of the national men’s team. Financing from abroad has led to modernization behind the scenes. It makes sense that these patterns are also repeated on the field.
It’s tempting to see the wave of Europeans as a sign that the Brazilian game is flourishing. From afar, you might assume that Brazilian clubs have acquired the financial power to compete for players they previously couldn’t sign, or for the kind of international scouting networks that would have been anathema to previous generations. Perhaps recent structural changes – the 2021 law allowing clubs to become publicly traded companies (SAFs), increasing foreign investment, talk of a breakaway league – have propelled the Campeonato Brasileiro higher in the world.
However, this would be an incredibly rosy reading. It would be one thing if these signings were concentrated among clubs that have their affairs in order, but there is no real correlation. For example, Gremio, who signed Braithwaite in July to replace the departed Luis Suarez, are on solid financial footing, but Corinthians have debts of more than two billion Reais (£278m, $368m). If Depay cannot help them get out of the relegation zone in the remaining 12 games of the season, they risk financial ruin.
Martin Braithwaite played for Gremio last month (Albari Rosa/AFP/Getty Images)
For Rodrigo Capelo, Brazil’s foremost expert on football finance, the recent wave of European newcomers is nothing to get excited about.
“These recent signings seem much more like a fad than anything strategic or based on structural changes in Brazilian football,” he says The Athletics. “Opportunities arose and club owners felt they would resonate well with the fans. In the past they only signed Brazilians or South Americans. Now they also have the chance to sign European players. They look good in the photos.”
The comparison between Seedorf and Depay is interesting. Seedorf was 36 and well past his prime when he joined Botafogo in 2012. Depay is 30 and still a mainstay of the Dutch national team. It would be a stretch to call it a coup as none of Europe’s top teams seemed to want him this summer, but it doesn’t feel like nothing.
Depay was keen to portray himself as some kind of envoy of the future during his first Corinthians press conference. “We always come to bring the Brazilian talents to Europe because they have something special,” he said. “This competition needs light from the other side. It’s time to show its potential. That will happen in the coming years.”
Capelo is not convinced. “It would be positive if this were a real sign that Brazilian football is becoming stronger, more profitable, more responsible and more sustainable,” he says. “If that were the truth, it would be cool to pass that message on to the rest of the world by recruiting players that are still in high demand in the European market, but that’s not the case.
“None of the players here today could find clubs in Europe. It’s interesting that they saw Brazil as an alternative, but it doesn’t change our image on the world stage.”
For Capelo, Seedorf’s example also serves as a cautionary tale. For all the excitement about that signing, and for all that Seedorf proved to be an inspiration on the pitch, the move also symbolized the kind of financial irresponsibility that has so often defined the Brazilian game. When the sponsorship deals and a series of TV bonuses that had financed Seedorf’s arrival dried up, Botafogo found itself on the brink of collapse. A year after the Dutchman retired, they were relegated to Serie B.
Seedorf played for Botafogo in 2013 (Ricardo Ramos/Getty Images)
Ten years later, a lot has changed. The rise of SAFs, including Botafogo, Cruzeiro, Fortaleza and Bahia, is widely seen as bringing in new ideas and much-needed investment. The ownership model also tends to shape transfer policy: without presidential elections every few years, there is less temptation for these clubs to go for splashy, big names that might previously have won over fans in the short term.
Botafogo, for example, spent heavily this summer, but on players who could reasonably be expected to increase in value. “We spent €20 million on Luiz Henrique (from Real Betis), which is not a problem in Europe but was a record amount in Brazil,” said John Textor, the club’s SAF owner. The Athletics. “We then broke it again for Thiago Almada (of Atlanta United). But we think these are investments and we have also invested money in our facilities. When Alex Telles (former Manchester United defender) joined, he told me that our training ground is the best of all the clubs he has played for.’
However, this progress was not universal. Capelo, for example, still sees similarities with the Seedorf era. He points to the recent boom in Brazil’s gambling industry, which has brought money into the game but may not be sustainable. “Certain practices still resemble those of the past,” he says. Many clubs spend money they don’t have.”
You understand the appeal to the players. Rumor has it that Depay earns around £96,000 ($127,000) a week at Corinthians – not top pay in Europe, but hardly anything to speak of. He will probably be one of the best players in the league. Like Telles, he is impressed by the facilities at his new club. “The structure here is similar (to that at top European clubs), maybe even better in some respects,” Depay said at his unveiling.
There are also intangible assets. The lifestyle available to wealthy footballers in Brazil will differ significantly from what they might experience in Saudi Arabia, for example. There’s also the appeal of playing in what Depay called ‘the Mecca of football’, plus the undeniable sense of adventure.
It’s much less clear whether deals like this bode well for the league. Bolasie is fast becoming a cult hero for Criciuma, but it wouldn’t be a big surprise if some of the other signings go in the same direction as Jese and Hugo Mallo, two Spaniards who emerged last year and had minimal impact. And while not all European signings represent huge financial gambles, there still seems to be an appetite for the bizarre: UEFA Champions League winners Mario Balotelli and Sergio Ramos have been linked to money-making moves in recent months.
As for Depay, his contract contains a release clause if Corinthians are relegated. The deal was largely financed by one of the club’s sponsors, a gambling company.
“These steps are not taking place because Brazilian football has become richer,” says Capelo, “but because there is still a lot of irresponsibility.”
(Top photo: Memphis Depay training in Sao Paulo; by Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images)