Buta says Brazil “always captivated” him, wants full-back role | OneFootball

São Paulo officially presented Portuguese right-back Aurélio Buta this Friday (24) at CT da Barra Funda.

The player signed a contract until the end of June 2027, with an automatic one-year extension clause tied to the achievement of individual performance targets.

Despite being able to play multiple roles on the field, such as center-back in a three-man defense or winger, Buta emphasized that his tactical priority is at full-back.

“The position I play in and feel best in is right-back. I was developed as a winger, but my entire professional career has been at right-back. It’s the position where I feel most comfortable,” explained the new signing.

Behind the signing and Mario Götze’s endorsement

Developed in Benfica’s youth academy, the player had spells at Royal Antwerp (Belgium), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), Reims (France), and FC Copenhagen (Denmark) before joining Tricolor. When asked why he chose Brazilian football, he did not hesitate to say that he had always wanted to play here.

“When my agents and Rafinha spoke to me about coming to São Paulo, it was an easy decision. Because it’s a huge club. I liked this challenge. It’s a new country, a completely different change from Europe, but I like big challenges. I used to follow Brazilian football from time to time in Portugal and it always caught my attention. It’s very aggressive football, with many players who can dribble and have technical quality. And that was one of the factors that influenced my decision to come here. It’s a style of football that appeals to me and I really liked it,” he said.

The deal included direct involvement from executive director Rafinha, who sought information from German midfielder Mario Götze — scorer of Germany’s title-winning goal at the 2014 World Cup and Buta’s former teammate at Frankfurt. The Portuguese player commented on his colleague’s recommendation:

“We played together at Frankfurt. He always helped me (…) I believe he must have given good references. I understood him well on the pitch, so I think with players like him it’s easy to play,” he said.

Clearance and possible debut at the Maracanã

Registered in time in the BID before FIFA’s transfer ban was formally imposed, Aurélio Buta has already joined the squad managed by Dorival Júnior and is expected to be part of the delegation traveling to Rio de Janeiro (RJ) for this Sunday’s (26) match against Flamengo at 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time) at the Maracanã, in the Brazilian Championship.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.