Official! Ex-Benfica midfielder joins Luís Castro's Grémio | OneFootball

It’s official: Danilo Barbosa has signed for Grémio. The 30-year-old Brazilian midfielder leaves Al-Ula, from Saudi Arabia’s second division, and returns to the club where he began his youth career. The player will now be coached by Luís Castro, the Portuguese manager who already knows him well from their time together at Botafogo. It is worth noting that the coach had already taken a professional from the Eagles.

Danilo signed a contract with the Porto Alegre club until 2028 and is expected to arrive in Brazil over the weekend. The midfielder comes in as an alternative following the departure of Leonel Pérez, who was loaned to Racing in Argentina. Grémio’s new signing has a career marked by several experiences in Brazilian and European football. After coming through the youth ranks of the club from Rio Grande do Sul, he played for Vitória da Bahia and Vasco da Gama before moving to Portugal.

In Portuguese football, he wore the shirts of Braga and Benfica, and also had spells at Valencia and Standard Liège. In recent years, the midfielder returned to Brazil, where he played for Botafogo and Palmeiras before heading to Saudi Arabia.

Danilo Barbosa is Grémio’s sixth signing of this transfer window. The Brazilian joins names such as Jovane Cabral and Filip Krovinović, players who also spent time in Portuguese football, as well as Matheus Nascimento, Wallace and Diego Caito.

For Luís Castro, this is a signing that adds experience to the midfield and one that the Portuguese coach knows particularly well, as a result of the period when he worked with Danilo Barbosa at Botafogo. The midfielder is now preparing to return to the club where he took his first steps in football.

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