Who is Luizao? Brazilian defender profiled after…

Who is Luizao? Brazilian defender profiled after completing West Ham free transfer switch

West Ham United have completed the signing of Brazillian centre-back Luizao on a free transfer from Sao Paulo, subject to international clearance.

Announced officially on Sunday afternoon, Luizao is set to officially become a West Ham player on January 1 following his exit from his native Brazil and will initially link up with Mark Robson's under-21s squad.

With Luizao's move ending long speculation over a potential move to the London Stadium, here is a profile on the defender, what he would add, and why his move makes sense.

The basic info

Luizao is a 20-year-old, 6ft 1" centre-back who was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who can also play as a left-back.

The defender joined Sao Paulo back in 2017 and was at the club for five years, making his first-team debut for Sao Paulo earlier this year.

He made his professional debut for the Faith Team in May 2022 during a Copa Sudamericana clash against Chilean side Everton.

His career to date

Luizao made 19 first-team appearances for Sao Paulo's first-team during his debut first season, scoring once during his debut 2022 campaign across all competitions.

The defender's debut came in a goalless draw with Chilean side Everton in the Copa Sudamericana, one of six appearances in the competition this year, which is the South American equivalent of the Europa League.

After the draw on debut, Sao Paulo won all four of the other games Luizao played in, starting and keeping clean sheets against Wilstermann (Bolivia) and Ayacucho (Peru), as well as coming off the bench during both legs in the round of 16 win over Chilean side Universidad Catolica. Sao Paulo went on to reach the final of the competition before losing to Argentinian side Independiante.

In July 2022, Luizao made his league debut in Brazil's top-flight against and featured in 14 of their final 23 league games, making 11 starts and scoring his first senior goal during a 1-1 draw with Cuiaba-MT. Luizao helped his club side keep two clean sheets when playing and did play as a left-back during a 1-1 draw with Corinthians.

Luizao also played once in Copa do Brasil last season, featuring as a late substitute during a last 16 second leg clash against Palmeiras, which Sao Paulo won on penalties. In that competition, Sao Paulo reached the semi-finals, losing 4-1 on aggregate to Flamengo at that stage.

In the league, Sao Paulo finished in ninth position which qualifies them for next season's Copa Sudamericana, missing out on the top eight and qualification for the Copa Libatedores (South American Champions League) by a single point.

Why his move to West Ham makes sense?

On paper, there are reasons why this move would make sense. At only 20 years of age, Luizao is still very early into his career and arrives as a free transfer, costing the club not a large financial outlay.

However, with just 19 first-team appearances to his name, he is still pretty inexperienced, although he does have a taste of playing in cross-continental competitions, such as West Ham's recent involvement in the Europa League and the recent Europa Conference League. He is likely need quite a lot of time to get used to both English football and be up to the standard of the Premier League, hence his initial arrival in the under-21s team.

Once signing Brazil star Lucas Paqueta in the summer, David Moyes did say he hoped that it would lead to more Brazilian players being attracted to joining West Ham, so it could go someway to filling that ambition and hopefully inspiring further samba stars to move to east London.

The deal is likely to be for the long-term and not short-term, but with Angelo Ogbonna being linked with a return to Italy and Craig Dawson potentially on the move after almost exiting in the summer, a new centre-back makes sense this January.

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