Nine of 586 Brasileirão regular starters reached the Premier League
In Europe's top five leagues, 50 arrived and 22 established themselves. The count follows Brasileirão regular starters from 2015 to 2019 for three years.
Nine of the 586 Brasileirão regular starters (15 or more starts in a season, this count's definition) reached the Premier League within three years. The three years run from the end of each player's last season as a regular starter.
The count runs from 2015 to 2019, and the Brasileirão is Brazil's top league. Those 15 starts are about 4 in 10 of a season's games. Three of the nine established themselves, a term this count defines as 20 or more starts in one season there. Across the five leagues it was 22 of 50, with few cases in each. By age at the end of the last regular-starter season, 27 of 78 aged 21 or under arrived, against 2 of 258 aged 28 or over.
The count uses the archive's lineups, the match database this site keeps. To arrive, in this count, is to enter a lineup, the list of who starts a game and who waits on the bench, of a game in one of the five leagues. They are the Premier League (England), LaLiga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), the Bundesliga (Germany) and Ligue 1 (France).
How many regular starters from the Brasileirão reach Europe's top five leagues?
Of the 586, 50 arrived within three years; moves only to Portugal, the Netherlands or Turkey do not count.
| Step | Players |
|---|---|
| Regular starters in the Brasileirão, 2015 to 2019 | 683 |
| Minus those who had already played in the five leagues | 97 |
| Base of the count | 586 |
| Reached the five leagues within three years | 50 |
| Started at least one game there | 46 |
| Established themselves (20 or more starts in one season) | 22 |
Of the 50, 46 started a game and four only sat on the bench. The 97 left out of the base had played in the five.
And how many of them establish themselves there?
Just under half established themselves: 22 of the 50 who arrived. Establishing themselves means 20 or more starts in one season there, within the three years. The cut-off, this count's definition, is over half of a team's 38 games (34 in the Bundesliga).
| Player | Club left and year as regular starter | Destination and month of first lineup | Starts in the next three years, from the archive's lineups |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richarlison | Fluminense, 2016 | Watford, Premier League, August 2017 | 32 in the Premier League 2017/18 |
| Gabriel Jesus | Palmeiras, 2016 | Manchester City, Premier League, January 2017 | 19 in the Premier League 2017/18 |
| Arthur | Grêmio, 2017 | Barcelona, LaLiga, August 2018 | 19 in LaLiga 2018/19 |
| Gabriel Barbosa | Santos, 2015 | Inter Milan, Serie A, September 2016 | 0, and 34 times as a substitute |
| Walace | Grêmio, 2016 | Hamburger SV, Bundesliga, February 2017 | 16 for Hamburger SV in 2017/18 and 23 for Hannover 96 in 2018/19 |
| Thiago Mendes | São Paulo, 2016 | Lille, Ligue 1, August 2017 | 27 in 2017/18 and 35 in 2018/19 |
Richarlison established himself in his first season: 32 starts in 2017/18, running from 2017 to 2018. Gabriel Jesus and Arthur had 19 each, one short of the cut-off.
Does the age at which a player leaves matter?
Aged 21 or under, 27 of 78 arrived, about 1 in 3; aged 28 or over, 2 of 258, and none established themselves. In my reading, it is the strongest finding. Age is taken at the last game of the last regular-starter season.
| Age at the last game of the last season as a regular starter | Base | Arrived | Established themselves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 21 | 78 | 27 (34.6%) | 11 |
| 22 to 24 | 108 | 12 (11.1%) | 6 |
| 25 to 27 | 142 | 9 (6.3%) | 5 |
| 28 or older | 258 | 2 (0.8%) | 0 |
| Total | 586 | 50 | 22 |
The share that arrived falls with each age group, from 34.6% to 0.8%, and the count cannot prove why, because age, club and league travel together.
In which of the five leagues did more than half of arrivals establish themselves?
Eleven of 17 Ligue 1 arrivals established themselves, the only league where over half did. Serie A took in the most, 20, but only 4 did; cases are few.
| League | Country | Appeared in it (of 586) | Established themselves there | First of the five they appeared in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | England | 9 | 3 | 5 |
| LaLiga | Spain | 12 | 2 | 11 |
| Serie A | Italy | 20 | 4 | 15 |
| Bundesliga | Germany | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Ligue 1 | France | 17 | 11 | 14 |
A player can appear in several leagues, so the appeared-in column adds up to 63, not 50. In the last column each player counts once: 50.
How long does it take to get there?
Of the 50, 41 arrived within a year of the end of their last regular-starter season. Half took up to 8.3 months, nine longer.
How did the count decide who arrived and who established themselves?
Each player counts once, of any nationality, and is followed for three years from the end of his last regular-starter season. 2014 is out: the archive barely marks starters.
The count stops at 2019. The 2020 Brasileirão ended in February 2021, and the next three years would run past December 2023, after which the archive no longer has complete lineups for the five leagues. For foreign starters in the Premier League, see the count of how many starters came from abroad.
Who is left out of the count, and why?
Players who left before 15 starts, or took over three years to arrive, are out: 50 is a minimum. The 586 exclude the 97 who had played in the five. In 2015/16 and, in LaLiga, 2016/17, 6% to 11% of starters lack player IDs.
What does the count show about players leaving the Brasileirão?
Of those who arrived, 27 were 21 or under, more than half. The share that arrives falls with age at departure, and the count leaves open why.
Read next
- Premier League: Watford sign Brazilian forward Richarlison (opens in a new tab)
- Premier League: Gabriel Jesus signs for Man City (opens in a new tab)
- Grêmio: Grêmio e Barcelona finalizam acordo de transferência de Arthur (opens in a new tab)
- Inter: Gabigol è dell'Inter (opens in a new tab)
- Hamburger SV: Fix: HSV verpflichtet Walace (opens in a new tab)
- LOSC: Thiago Mendes, seconde recrue brésilienne du mercato lillois | LOSC (opens in a new tab)
Frequently asked questions
- How many players from Brazil's league reach Europe's top five leagues?
- Of the 586 regular starters in the Brasileirão from 2015 to 2019, 50 appeared in a lineup of one of the top five leagues within three years, about 1 in 12, according to the lineups in Soccer Addicted's archive. Moves to Portugal, the Netherlands or Turkey alone do not count.
- How many Brasileirão starters succeed in Europe's top five leagues?
- The count measures who establishes themselves, not who succeeds. Of the 50 regular starters in the Brasileirão from 2015 to 2019 who arrived, according to the lineups in Soccer Addicted's archive, 22 started 20 or more games in one season there, this count's cut-off.
- Did Brasileirão starters who left younger reach Europe's top five leagues more often?
- Among Brasileirão regular starters from 2015 to 2019, according to the lineups in Soccer Addicted's archive, 27 of 78 who left at 21 or younger arrived, against 2 of 258 who left at 28 or older. The count shows the gap but does not prove the cause.
- How long does it take to reach Europe's top five leagues?
- Of the 50 Brasileirão regular starters from 2015 to 2019 who arrived, according to the lineups in Soccer Addicted's archive, 41 took up to a year after the end of the last season in which they were regular starters, and half of the 50 took up to 8.3 months. Nine took longer than a year.
- Does the figure cover everyone who arrived?
- No, it is a minimum. According to the lineups in Soccer Addicted's archive, nine Brasileirão players from 2015 to 2019, with 8 to 14 starts in a season, were left out of the base and appeared in the five leagues within a year: with them it would be 59, not 50.
