R$12.5m signing fades, Spinelli loses ground under Pedro Emanuel at Vasco

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·28 September 2026

R$12.5m signing fades, Spinelli loses ground under Pedro Emanuel at Vasco

Forward Claudio Spinelli is going through a period of ostracism and loss of space in the Vasco squad. Signed for around R$12.5 million to be one of the team’s attacking options this season, the Argentine striker has lost prestige under coach Pedro Emanuel and has practically disappeared from matches, stuck on the bench and far from key decisions on the pitch at São Januário.

The foreigner’s loss of prominence coincides with the arrival of reinforcements such as Facundo Colidio and Bruno Duarte, who have earned the coaching staff’s trust and moved ahead in the pecking order for the position. Not even the rotation policy to preserve players in the Brasileirão opened up space for the No. 9, who watched from the bench as the team secured qualification for the semifinals of the Copa Sudamericana against Independiente Santa Fe, a match in which David found the net.

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?Loss of space and Spinelli’s numbers at Vasco

The situation became clear again in the match against Grêmio, when the Portuguese coach chose to leave the Argentine out of the traveling squad, even though there was room to take one more foreign player. Despite his recent absence from Vasco matches, the board and staff at São Januário still see the striker as a useful piece to round out the group until the end of the match calendar.

With seven goals over the course of the year, the forward has struggled to adapt to the quick-transition, high-intensity style demanded by the European manager. The player has made 35 appearances and logged 1,680 minutes on the field, with his highest minute total in the Brazilian top flight at 743 minutes and his best scoring stretch coming in the earlier stages of the continental tournament, where he scored three goals and provided one assist.

?Brenner’s return and the future of the attack

The mission of regaining prestige in a Vasco shirt is set to become even more complicated in the coming weeks of training at São Januário. The medical department is working to have forward Brenner fully recovered from injury during October, increasing the range of options in the box and intensifying the internal competition among the direct contenders for a spot.

With the final stretch of the competitions approaching and the knockout semifinals just around the corner, the foreign player will need to show resilience in day-to-day work to regain the coach’s trust. The board is monitoring the strikers’ performances and knows that any turnaround will depend exclusively on an immediate response from the center-forward when opportunities arise again.