Palmeiras: Gains and losses in Marlon Freitas-Aníbal Moreno swap | OneFootball

Palmeiras is close to making a "swap" of midfielders for the 2026 season. Verdão has released Aníbal Moreno to be sold to River Plate-ARG, and is close to finalizing the signing of Marlon Freitas from Botafogo.

In 2025, Aníbal and Marlon did not win titles with their clubs and had a regular year. In Moreno's case, the Argentine was notably marked by his expulsion in the derby against Corinthians in the Copa do Brasil, which ended with the elimination of Palmeiras.

Gazeta Esportiva compared the numbers of the midfielders in 2025 for the Brazilian Championship and the Copa Libertadores. See below:

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More games and more minutes

Marlon Freitas has more matches played and more minutes played than Aníbal Moreno in 2025. In the Brazilian Championship, the Brazilian midfielder played 35 games and 2928 minutes, while the Argentine was present in 28 matches and 1807 minutes.

Moreover, in the Libertadores, these numbers still favor the Botafogo player. Each athlete played eight games in the continental competition, but Marlon Freitas was used more: 651 against 385 minutes.

Photo: Vitor Silva / Botafogo

Defensive numbers

In defensive numbers for the Brasileirão, Aníbal Moreno stands out more. The Argentine surpassed Marlon Freitas in ground duels won per game (2.4 x 1.6), aerial duels won (0.6 x 0.5), fouls committed (0.8 x 1.1), tackles (1.6 x 1.3), interceptions (1.0 x 0.7), and fouls suffered (0.4 x 0.3).

On the other hand, Marlon Freitas excels in some other aspects compared to Aníbal Moreno: dribbles suffered (0.8 x 0.9), clearances per game (1.4 x 1.0), and shots blocked (0.5 x 0.2). The above numbers were sourced from Sofascore, a site specializing in football statistics.

Photo: Cesar Greco / Palmeiras

In general information, Marlon Freitas is older than Aníbal Moreno (30 years old versus 26), but a player with a lower market value (5.8 million euros x 11.4 million euros).

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