How a switch in role made Heittor Palmeiras youth's top scorer | OneFootball

Palmeiras are the only unbeaten team in the Brazilian Under-20 Championship and lead the tournament with 21 points after nine rounds played – second-placed Vasco have 19. In addition, they have the best attack in the competition, with 24 goals. A large part of these results is due, in addition to the goals, to Heittor, 18, the competition’s top scorer with eight goals.

Increasingly adapted to his new position, the forward has been the “face” of the club’s youth sides this season. If Heittor was previously seen as a dribbling winger, the player has been operating more centrally, like a true number 9, since 2025, and he has been reaping the rewards of the change – he has ten goals in 11 games in 2025.

A winger up to the Under-17 level, in 2024, Heittor joined the Under-20 team in 2025 and went through the change under then-coach Lucas Andrade. Despite finishing last season with ten goals in 35 matches, it was a year of ups and downs for the player.

Injuries

The youngster struggled with a series of injuries last year and even gave up part of his vacation to focus on recovery. Free from injuries, the forward maintained his status and ended 2025 as one of the Under-20 team’s standouts, and he was called up for the first Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior of his career wearing the number 9 shirt.

However, the Copinha brought the youngster a new challenge. In the opener against Monte Roraima, Heittor suffered a dislocated kneecap and missed the rest of the tournament – the team were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Ibrachina-SP.

Recovered, Heittor has already scored ten goals in 11 games for Palmeiras in the 2026 season. He has found the net eight times in seven Brazilian Championship matches, in addition to four games and two goals in the Under-20 Libertadores in March – Verdão finished the tournament in third place. Called up to the Brazil Under-20 team for the first time in February, he took part in two friendlies and provided an assist.

Abel keeping an eye on him

Heittor was included in the senior squad for one match in October 2025, but did not take the field. He was part of the 4-1 win over Juventude, in a postponed match played during the FIFA international break, and therefore with the Palmeiras side heavily depleted.

A regular presence in first-team training, Heittor remains on Abel Ferreira’s coaching staff’s radar. His style is appealing. In an interview after the 1-1 draw against Cerro Porteño in the Libertadores, the coach praised forward Sosa, who is undergoing a positional change similar to the one the young Academy graduate went through.

Without Vitor Roque, who first spent a period on the sidelines and is now recovering from ankle surgery, Sosa has started to play with more freedom through the middle. At the end of last season and the start of the current one, with Flaco López and Roque forming the strike partnership, Sosa was used more conservatively as a winger. Ain

With five goals and five assists overall in 2026, in 25 matches, Sosa has surpassed his 2025 numbers (four goals and three assists) with four fewer games.

Contract renewed

In July 2025, the forward extended his contract with Palmeiras until July 2029 – the previous deal had been valid until 2017.

Born in Recife, the forward joined the club in 2018 and went on to rack up titles in the youth ranks at Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-20 levels.

Heittor says he models himself on Endrick, the star of the 2022 edition for Verdão and now at Lyon, on loan from Real Madrid.

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