With all four Brazilian teams competing at the Club World Cup making it through to the knockout stages, and two making it to the quarter-finals, now feels like a better time than ever to look into the value of signing South American players.
One of the competing teams were 2024 Copa Libertadores winners Botafogo, who were knocked out by their Brazilian counterparts Palmeiras, courtesy of a winner in extra-time.
Despite that, they were still an impressive side throughout the tournament, and managed to beat European champions and treble winners Paris Saint Germain in the group stages, with an incredibly astute defensive performance.
The winner in that game was scored by Brazilian international Igor Jesus. The striker is heading across the water to join Nottingham Forest ahead of the 25/26 European season. Some are reporting that he will sign for 10 million Euros and some are saying it will be 10 million pounds. Either way, this is incredibly cheap.
Although this is not the best iteration of Brazil we have ever seen, in the last 12 months – Jesus has started, scored and assisted for the national team. Could you imagine how much someone who had done the same for Portugal would cost?
Admittedly, his record in Brazil is not absolutely insane – particularly not compared to his record in the UAE Pro League. However, at 24 he is still someone with his best years ahead of him. For around £10m or so, in a worst case scenario, Forest are likely to get their money back or even make a profit on the forward.
Last season, we saw Chris Wood have the best season of his career. However, he will be 34 in December, and jets off to the other side of the world and back every international break. With the injury record of Taiwo Awionyi, it makes sense for Forest to sign another striker, particularly for such a low price.
With European football to come if they navigate their two legged play off, then Forest will have two games a week in the Autumn and Winter too. So it is key that they are able to get as many bodies in as possible. You could see the lack of depth catch up with them at the end of last season, and that was without (probable) European football commitments.
In the winter of 2023, Wolves signed Brazilian midfielder Joao Gomes from Flamengo for around 16 million pounds. In the 24/25 Premier League season, he averaged 3.2 tackles a game, the fourth most in the league. The previous season he averaged 3.8 per game, which was the second most in the division.
Owing to his excellent performances in his first year at Wolves, Gomes was rewarded with his first Brazil cap against England at Wembley. That summer, he started all four of Brazil’s games at the Copa America.
Last summer, he was joined by compatriot and international team mate Andre, who has also made a fine contribution in the West Midlands. He was signed for around 18 million pounds. Due to the intense nature of the schedule in Brazil, he had already played around 200 career games prior to joining Wolves, despite having recently turned 2023.
There are countless other examples of bargain buys from South America, but we could be here all day if we went through all of them. The main point is that there is much better value signing players from there than in Europe, mostly due to the discrepancy between the two continents.
Simply put, there is very little money over in South America. That allows (smart) European teams to exploit the value and sign players that may cost two or three times that had they come from fellow European sides.
Sure, sometimes there can be issues with adapting when it comes to English football. In South America, whilst some English is spoken – it is certainly spoken less than any other continent in the world. Perhaps that’s why Gomes and Andre were able to settle at Wolves – a club known for having many Portuguese speakers, both in the squad and coaching staff.
In Spain that is not an issue, and no doubt we see a lot of South Americans playing over there. Getting to play European football whilst also being comfortably speaking your own language is hugely beneficial to a lot of players.
On the pitch, however, adapting is often not an issue. As mentioned above, the schedule over there is hectic, so they are robust enough to play two – and sometimes more – games a week. It is also very physical over there, so players are able to hold their own after coming over.
Although Brazilian football has been the talking point of this piece, it is not just there where there is value. Several players from Argentina, Chile, Colombia and so on have provided excellent value for European sides over the years.
Bologna’s Colombian defender Jhon Lucumi was a monster for his side when they beat AC Milan 1-0 in the Coppa Italia final to secure their first trophy in half a century. He was signed from Genk for less than £10m – likewise with compatriot Daniel Munoz of Crystal Palace, who was a key part of their FA Cup win.
Sure, those players, as mentioned above, joined via another European team rather than straight from South America, but it still shows the value in scouting. Neither Munoz or Lucumi were young when they moved to Bologna or Palace either.
They were young when they signed for Genk, who deserve credit for their scouting of the players when they were in Colombia, and managing to flip them for a profit to the top five leagues – even if it doesn’t seem like a huge amount – it is still very healthy for clubs in Belgium.
Ironically enough, Palace’s rivals, Brighton and Hove Albion, have been very good at exploiting the South American market. They signed Moises Caicedo from Independiente Del Valle for £4.3m, before selling him to Chelsea. Although not signed directly from Ecuador, compatriot Pervis Estupinan has been a rock at left-back for the South Coast side too.
Back in the summer, fellow Ecuadorian Piero Hincapie signed for Bayer Leverkusen for around 6 million Euros from Talleres. He has been very consistent in the four years since, and was a crucial part of their domestic double in 23/24. If and when he is sold, it will be for a big profit.
Other players from the likes of Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Chile have also had very successful careers in Europe, after being bought for very small amounts. It really is the best continent for value for money signings and smart squad planning.
