Yet to settle, forward makes first official appearance for Corinthians | OneFootball

On the night of last Sunday (2), Corinthians traveled to Beira-Rio Stadium to face Internacional in the first leg of the 2026 Copa do Brasil round of 16, but ended up losing 2-0. The teams will meet again this Thursday (6) at Neo Química Arena and, if they want to have any chance of advancing, Timão will have to win by at least two goals to take the tie to a penalty shootout.

The clash against the Colorado side marked the first official match of the second half of the year for 29-year-old striker Pedro Raul in a Corinthians shirt. Last night, he was brought on by coach Fernando Diniz in the 27th minute of the second half, replacing Gui Negão, who had not taken the field since the end of March. In 18 minutes on the pitch, the No. 18 had a quiet performance, recording just eight touches, one shot saved, 3/4 accurate passes (75%), 3/5 duels won, and one loss of possession. The numbers were taken from Sofascore, a sports statistics app. His rating on the app was 6.6.

Photo: Rodrigo Coca/Agência Corinthians

The center-forward was on the field during the second half of the match against FC Cascavel, which ended in a 1-1 draw, on July 12. The match, however, was a friendly. Before that, his last official match had been on May 27, when he came on late in the defeat to Argentina’s Platense in Itaquera, in the final round of the Conmebol Libertadores group stage.

After that, he was included in the squad for the matches against Remo at home and Bahia away, both in the Brazilian Championship, but did not come off the bench. Last Thursday (30), he was unavailable for the match against Athletico-PR — a 0-0 draw — also in the national competition, due to pubic pain, according to the club’s press office.

At the start of the season, it is worth remembering, Pedro Raul even received inquiries from other Série A teams, such as Vitória and Remo, but remained at Parque São Jorge, representing a vote of confidence from Dorival Jr.’s coaching staff, then in charge of Timão at the time. In midyear, Internacional also showed interest in the player, but eventually backed away from the negotiations.

The striker was signed by Corinthians in January 2024, at the beginning of former president Augusto Melo’s term, from Toluca of Mexico for five million dollars (R$ 25 million at the exchange rate at the time), split into four installments, two to be paid in 2024 and the rest in 2025. However, Timão renegotiated the start of payment to only the beginning of last year. As a result, due to interest, the player will cost Alvinegro eight million dollars (around R$ 42.8 million at the current exchange rate), to be paid in nine installments between 2025 and 2028.

Even with the high investment, Pedro Raul has not managed to establish himself at Corinthians under Mano Menezes, António Oliveira, Ramón Díaz, Dorival Júnior and, so far, remains in the same situation under Fernando Diniz. After getting opportunities and posting poor performances in 2024, the striker was loaned to Ceará in March 2025. There, he was the team’s top scorer that season, with 17 goals and two assists in 45 matches. Even so, Vozão were relegated to Série B and, for financial reasons, did not exercise their option to buy the player.

As a result, the No. 18 returned to Corinthians at the start of 2026 and was reintegrated into the squad, then still coached by Dorival Júnior. This year, he has made 25 appearances and provided two assists, without scoring a goal. Since arriving at Timão, he has four goals and four assists in 65 matches — 26 wins, 18 draws and 21 losses — a 49.2% success rate. His last goal for Alvinegro came in January 2025, in the 2-1 away win over Red Bull Bragantino, in that year’s Campeonato Paulista opener.

He was part of the squad responsible for the surge in the 2024 Brasileirão (from the relegation zone to the Libertadores preliminary rounds), in addition to taking part in the Supercopa do Brasil title win against Flamengo at Mané Garrincha Stadium in Brasília. Currently, for the attacking sector, Corinthians have: Yuri Alberto, Memphis Depay, Jesse Lingard, Dieguinho, Vitinho, Kayke Ferrari, Gui Negão and Kaio César.

It is worth noting that, at the moment, only four of those options are available to the coaching staff. That is because Memphis Depay is still negotiating a contract renewal, while Yuri Alberto, Vitinho and Kayke Ferrari are recovering from injuries in the medical department. The No. 9 is dealing with a thigh muscle injury, while the other two are recovering from knee ligament surgeries.

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