Brazil is one of the leading nations in the world when it comes to developing top football talent. Pelé, Ronaldo, Garrincha, Zico, Ronaldinho, Romario, Cafu and Jairzinho are just some of the great players to emerge from the South American country. Fast forward to the present day and who are the top 5 Brazilian football players to watch out for in 2021?
Antony Matheus dos Santos
Beginning with a player who has recently moved from the Brazilian League to join Dutch giants Ajax, Antony has an extremely exciting career ahead of him. The winger is tipped to follow in the footsteps of other players who have graduated from the Cotia academy, including Casemiro of Real Madrid. In February 2020, Antony signed a £13 million deal to join Ajax from Sao Paulo and European football fans are set for a treat in 2021 thanks to his tremendous pace and dribbling skills.
Marcos Paulo
Brazilian born but currently representing Portugal at underage international level the next player in our list of Brazilian footballers to watch out for in 2021 is Marcos Paulo. The forward is on the books of Brazilian club Fluminense FC but has long been linked with a move to Spanish giants Barcelona. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Paulo is eligible to represent Portugal through his maternal grandfather and seems keen to make the move to Europe as soon as possible. Barcelona have already made one offer for the 19 year old and may return with a bigger offer before the start of 2020/21 campaign.
Gabriel Veron
Staying in Brazil and one of the top 5 Brazilian football players to watch out for in 2021 is Gabriel Veron. Currently playing for Palmeiras as a forward, Veron is only 17 years of age yet has already attracted the interest of European football’s biggest clubs. He had a starring role for Brazil at the Under-17 World Cup in 2019, winning the Golden Ball. Scouts are going to be following Veron’s progress in great detail as he is expected to have a big season in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 2021.
Which of the major European clubs are going to take a gamble on Veron? Will it be Paris Saint-Germain? Talking about gambling in the French capital and specifically les paris sportifs, will Veron link up with Neymar in the near future and create an all-Brazilian attacking line-up at the Parc des Princes? It is an exciting prospect.
Gabriel Martinelli
Moving from France to the English Premier League and Arsenal will be hoping Gabriel Martinelli recovers from his knee injury to play a starring role in 2021. The 19 year old striker showed signs of promise having scored 2 goals in his first competitive start against Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup. Martinelli won the Arsenal ‘Player of the Month’ award for October 2019 and is destined for great things in the Premier League.
There has been a flurry of bets placed in the UK on Arsenal of late, with lots of people now opting to bet from their mobile. The most popular bookie app in the UK comes from bet365, but just how good is the bet365 Android app? Well it gets rave reviews in the Google Play store and is the most popular bookmaker app among UK bettors.
Dodô (Domilson Cordeiro dos Santos)
Finally, we had to the Ukraine and champions Shakhtar Donetsk who are well known for promoting young Brazilian players. 2021 could be a great year for 21 year old full back Dodô. Playing predominantly at right back for his club, Dodô has represented his country at under 17 and under 21 level. With Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League, we are going to be seeing plenty of Dodô in action throughout the year.
