Danielzinho: São Paulo’s new tireless, tough-tackling midfielder | OneFootball

São Paulo finalized this Friday (12) the signing of midfielder Danielzinho, 31 years old, one of the standouts for Mirassol in their surprising campaign in the last Brazilian Championship.

According to information gathered by AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR, the club made a contract offer to the player, whose contract with the team from the countryside ends at the end of this month, thus beating Corinthians in the race for his signing.

The player and his staff liked São Paulo’s offer: a two-year contract, extendable for one more year if he meets certain goals. Despite his advanced age, Danielzinho meets coach Hernán Crespo’s requirement for “healthy players”: he has a minimal injury history. He played 50 games this year, 49 in 2024, and 46 in 2023. In the current season, the midfielder played 4,340 minutes, missing only one match for Mirassol.

In these 50 matches in 2025, the future São Paulo reinforcement provided three assists, 63 key passes, and an impressive 88% pass accuracy, according to data provided by Sofascore. He was the 3rd player with the most accurate passes in this Brasileirão.

Defensively, he also posted good numbers for Mirassol, with 228 duels won, 76 tackles, 1.5 per match, 198 completed defensive actions, and 264 balls recovered, averaging 5.3 per game.

Even though he’s short, at only 1.66m, Danielzinho stands out as a tenacious and strong-marking midfielder, but he can also play as a freer man in midfield, or even as an attacking midfielder if necessary, as Marcos Antonio had to do this season due to São Paulo’s injury crisis.

In this area, the club ended up struggling with injuries. Luiz Gustavo, Hugo Leonardo, Alisson, Pablo Maia, Marcos Antonio, and Luan, all midfielders, were sidelined for São Paulo at some point during the season, mostly due to physical injuries.

This is the second reinforcement lined up by the Morumbi club for next year. The club has also finalized a deal with Ajax, from the Netherlands, to sign defender Gastón Ávila on loan until the end of 2026. Both new signings are expected to be announced over the course of next week, when the paperwork is signed with both players present at the Barra Funda training center.

The arrival of a midfielder fills the gap left by the departure of Luiz Gustavo, whose contract ends at the end of the month and will not be renewed. Besides him, other players in the position, such as Luan and Pablo Maia, have received inquiries and are also not expected to stay.

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