Premier League’s best Brazilians: Antony is 100th player to bring ‘jogo bonito’ to England
Craig Burley thinks Antony has room to improve despite a positive start with a goal on his debut for Manchester United. (1:09)
Manchester United new boy Antony had multiple reasons to celebrate as he began his Premier League career at Old Trafford with a bang.
Just three days after completing his £86 million move from Ajax, the 22-year-old winger opened his goal-scoring account for United just 35 minutes into Sunday’s resounding 3-1 victory over league leaders Arsenal.
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With his club debut, first goal and three points already stashed away under his belt, Antony also had the esteemed honour of becoming the 100th Brazilian to play in the Premier League since its inception in 1992.
The very first Brazilian to play Premier League football was Isaias Soares of Coventry City, who made his debut in the top flight in a 2-1 win over Manchester City in the second game of the 1995-96 season.
Despite being something of a footballing trailblazer, the former Benfica forward failed to make much of an impact in England and made just a handful of appearances for the Sky Blues before returning to Portugal with Campomaiorense in 1997.
Still, he opened the door for his compatriots, with 99 more native Brazilians following suit and making the move to the Premier League over the course of the next 27 years — Antony, of course, being the most recent.
While Isaias may have struggled to settle in the Midlands, many Brazilian players have enjoyed successful stints in the Premier League. Here’s a look at those who have fared best during their time in the English top flight.
The highest scoring Brazilian player in Premier League history is still active and still adding to his tally, having most recently scored in Liverpool’s 2-1 home win over Newcastle United at the end of August.
The 30-year-old forward has three goals in five league games already this season, having also found the net twice in the Reds’ recent 9-0 obliteration of Bournemouth.
Comfortably the most productive Brazilian player to ever grace the Premier League, Firmino is also clear leader at the top of the all-time assist table too.
Willian is second place with 38 assists in total and, having just returned to the Premier League by signing for newly-promoted Fulham, there is a chance the former Chelsea and Arsenal winger could reduce the gap this season.
Fernandinho first arrived in the Premier League when he signed for City in June 2013 from Shakhtar Donetsk, and the versatile defensive midfielder was an intrinsic part of the spine of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side, becoming a true stalwart before bowing out at the age of 37.
It’s probably no surprise that he is the most decorated Brazilian in Premier League history, winning five league titles (along with seven domestic cups) before departing for Athletico Paranaense at the end of the 2021-22 season.
There really hasn’t been an abundance of Brazilian goalkeepers to play in the Premier League over the last 30 years with City keeper Ederson leading the way in a limited field of just five stoppers to have managed a shut-out.
Liverpool’s Alisson is second with 66 clean sheets to his name while Heurelho Gomes of Tottenham and Watford (53), Julio Cesar of Queens Park Rangers (5) and Neto of Bournemouth (1) complete the rundown.
Alisson, however, is the only one of that group to have scored a Premier League goal, with his thumping late header to seal a late 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion in May 2021 helping his club secure Champions League qualification.
Chelsea and Manchester City have jointly fielded more Brazilians in Premier League games than any other club, with both giving appearances to 13 players apiece.
Chelsea have handed English top-flight debuts to Willian, Thiago Silva, Kenedy, David Luiz, Ramires, Oscar, Alex, Filipe Luis, Alexandre Pato, Juliano Belletti, Emerson Thome, Mineiro and Lucas Piazon. Brazil-born striker Diego Costa signed for the Blues in the summer of 2014, but he had become a Spanish national the previous year.
City have had Fernandinho, Ederson, Danilo, Gabriel Jesus, Fernando, Geovanni, Elano, Jo, Robinho, Maicon, Sylvinho, Kayky and Glauber all play for them in the Premier League over the years.
Arsenal are narrowly behind with 12 Brazilian players, but they are poised to move level with Chelsea and City at the top of the list when 19-year-old new signing Marquinhos makes his top flight bow for the Gunners.
The aforementioned Antony is on record as the most expensive Brazilian signing in Premier League history with Manchester United parting with £86m to sign the forward from Ajax earlier this month.
That comfortably eclipsed the previous record set when United paid £70m to sign deep-lying midfielder Casemiro from Real Madrid just a few days beforehand.
The most expensive Brazilian to leave the Premier League for elsewhere is Philippe Coutinho, who netted Liverpool somewhere in the region of £142m when he left to join Barcelona in January 2018.