Former Liverpool, Barcelona and Tottenham stars are among the seven brilliant players we believe are simply too good to be playing in Brazil.
The Brazilian Serie A is always plenty of fun to keep up with. The league is packed with rising ballers and older stars of years gone by who are playing out the final years of their careers.
We’ve taken a closer look at the league and have found seven players who we can’t believe are currently playing in Brazil.
Philippe Coutinho
We all know that panned out. We don’t need to recount such a monumental failure.
Coutinho is now turning out for boyhood side Vasco da Gama on loan from Aston Villa and still produces moments to take the breath away.
Felipe Anderson
After two seasons at West Ham, a sneaky little loan at Porto, and a combined eight years at Lazio, Felipe Anderson has finally returned to the Brasileirao.
He was absolutely mustard in that first season at West Ham. Untouchable, at times. A dip in form toward the end of his second season resulted in that loan to Porto, and that didn’t go too smoothly either.
The Brazilian picked himself back up and helped Lazio to a second-place Serie A finish in 2022-23.
Anderson signed for Palmeiras this summer and has produced snippets of jaw-dropping class back in his home country.
Martin Braithwaite
Braithwaite is one of the most interesting men in football. The ex-Middlesbrough and Barcelona forward, gazillionaire, potential future owner of Espanyol—out of pure spite, and Denmark international signed for Gremio in the summer of 2024.
Scored twice on his league debut as well.
Braithwaite’s new team aren’t pulling up many trees in the Brazilian league, but he’s scored eight goals and provided two assists in 18 appearances and could probably still be playing in Europe.
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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every member of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup Squad?
Gerson
Gerson returned to Brazil in December last year, following stints in Europe with Roma and Marseille.
The 27-year-old has a good eye for goal and has chipped in with plenty of goal contributions from midfield since his return to Flamengo. He could probably do a job in a more high-profile league.
Matheus Pereira
The streets won’t forget Pereira and his magical stint with West Brom. After leaving the Baggies, the Brazilian joined Saudi outfit Al-Hilal, although it didn’t take long until he was eyeing up the exit door.
Seemingly unhappy with his situation in Saudi Arabia, the 28-year-old has spent the last couple of seasons out on loan.
He’s now back in Brazil with Cruzeiro, having spent time on loan with the club last year. We sure would love to see him back in England one day.
QUIZ: Can you name every player from Brazil to score 5+ Premier League goals?
Giorgian de Arrascaeta
De Arrascaeta continues to produce the goods for Flamengo and is arguably the best player playing outside of Europe.
Since moving to the club in 2019, the Uruguayan attacking midfielder has chipped in with 146 goal contributions in 290 matches which is some return. He’s still only 30 too.
Lucas Moura
After spending over a decade in Europe with PSG and Tottenham, Moura made an emotional return to Sao Paulo in 2023.
Since arriving back in Brazil, the 32-year-old has managed to get his hands on a couple of trophies as Sao Paulo won the Copa do Brasil and Supercopa do Brasil in quick succession.
