Out since late April, attacking midfielder starts recovery at Corinthians | OneFootball

On the afternoon of this Thursday (3), Corinthians, who continue preparing to face Chapecoense in the Brazilian Championship this weekend, released a clinical update on attacking midfielder Vitinho, 32. The player, still in the final stretch of recovery from a meniscus injury in his left knee, has begun the physical transition period under the supervision of the club’s professionals and is already taking part in partial sessions with the rest of the squad.

The physical transition is the final stage of a player’s injury recovery before returning to the pitch. “Forward Vitinho is in the physical transition period and carried out partial work with the group,” Corinthians said in an official statement. The injury happened on July 24, and five days later he underwent surgery at Albert Einstein Hospital, performed by Dr. Moisés Cohen, with monitoring from Ricardo Galotti, head of Timão’s medical department.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

The No. 11 has not played since April 30, when Corinthians beat Peñarol of Uruguay 2-0 in a match valid for the group stage of the 2026 Conmebol Libertadores. On that day, he came on near the end of the match to replace Jesse Lingard and played only two minutes. Since then, the player had been recovering from hip pain and a hamstring injury. On July 15, he began physical transition, but a few days later ended up suffering the meniscus injury in his left knee.

At the end of last year, Vitinho had a similar problem. On October 4, 2025, during Corinthians’ 3-0 win over Mirassol in Itaquera in the Brazilian Championship, the player injured the meniscus in his right knee, underwent arthroscopy, and only returned to the pitch on November 20 of the same year, in the 3-1 victory over São Paulo at Neo Química Arena in the closing stretch of the Brasileirão.

Career path and time with Corinthians

Vitinho was signed by Corinthians in August 2025 on a free transfer after spells with Al-Ettifaq (2022/2023 to 2024/2025) and Al-Shabab (2023/2024 – loan), with the approval of coach Dorival Júnior, who was in charge of Timão at the time and had already worked with the player at Flamengo in 2018. Wearing the Corinthians shirt, he has one goal and four assists in 38 matches (13 as a starter) in a spell marked by some physical problems and inconsistency, which has prevented him from establishing himself as a regular starter.

His only goal for Corinthians came on February 22, 2026, when, in stoppage time, he scored a stunning goal that took the match against Portuguesa at Canindé, in the quarterfinals of the Campeonato Paulista, to a penalty shootout. On that day, the club from Parque São Jorge advanced to the semifinals after Hugo Souza proved decisive.

Besides the hip injury that kept him out of Timão’s recent matches, Vitinho had also suffered a meniscus injury in his right knee in October last year. He was sidelined for a little over a month. With Corinthians, he was part of the title-winning squads for the Copa do Brasil (2025) and the Supercopa do Brasil (2026), against Vasco da Gama and Flamengo, respectively. The player has also had spells with Botafogo (where he came through the youth ranks), CSKA Moscow (Russia), Internacional, and Flamengo.

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