Eighteen not exactly unforgettable months in Europe and a mad desire to return to prove that they are up to par with the great South American champions who did well in the Old Continent. After the adventure with Betis Sevilla (4 goals and 10 assists in 64 games), Luiz Henrique André Rosa da Silva This time he seems ready for the big leap. At 24 (turned January 2), the offensive winger born in Petropolis dragged Botafogo into a truly unforgettable 2024, deserving the South American Golden Ball and lots of praise.
The victory of the Brazilian championship and especially of the Copa Libertadores are the best calling card for the boy who grew up in the youth sector of Fluminense, who left Brazil in 2022 to attempt the European adventure with the Andalusian green and whites. An adventure, as mentioned, far from exciting but luckily destiny always – or almost always – reserves a second opportunity. In February last year he became the most expensive purchase in the history of Brazilian football (106 million reais, around 16 million euros), now he can become a bargain for “Fogao”, ready to sell him for 30 million euros. John Textor, the owner of the Rio de Janeiro club, would like to loan him for six months to Lyon (another company belonging to the Eagle Football Holdings galaxy) and bring him back to allow him to take advantage of the Club World Cup showcase which will be held in the USA in the summer. But there are many teams following Luiz Henrique’s trail, including Fiorentina.
The Viola want to give Raffaele Palladino a strong offensive reinforcement, to try to make the leap in quality and continue to fight for the top positions, but it will not be easy to bring the “Black Panther”, as he was renamed after a celebration in which he showed off the mask of the famous Marvel superhero. A left-footed offensive winger, he scored 11 goals and 6 assists in 48 games between the league and Libertadores, demonstrating that he can make an impact in the games that count. The only “flaw” is the problem that involved him some time ago, linked to football betting and Lucas Paquetà: both ended up in the eye of the storm for suspicious bets, but the affair seems to have ended up in oblivion.