The first person to notice Souza’s abilities at Flamengo was the well-known Jorge Jesus who likened him to his former player Nemanja Matic and he would go on to promote Souza to the 1st team in August of 2019. Despite this early praise Souza would only feature for the Flamengo first team for a total of 25 minutes across 3 games before making the leap to Europe after being spotted by the City Group. This deal would be for a reported €2.5 million with 60% of the players right going to the city group with the remaining 40% staying with Flamengo. This transfer would put Souza in the second division in Belgium for City Group side Lommel SK.
Here he would get his first taste of regular football helping Lommel finish 3rd in the league, showcasing his skills as one of the leagues best defensive midfielders. His performances here wouldn’t go unnoticed in Belgium and he soon found himself sent out on loan to top tier side Mechelen for the 21/22 season. Even with the step up in league quality the tall 6ft2 Brazilian eased into the league becoming like the season before, one of the best defensive midfielders about with great anticipation, tackling and progressive passing on show.
After this terrific season, as should be expected Souza has been linked with many clubs including Celtic. Celtic will be able to offer Champions League football and with the hiring of Mark Lawwel from the City Group will likely have a wealth of information on the Brazilian to make an informed decision to make a move for him.
Positional Play
Souza would normally take up one of the two base positions in Mechelen’s 4231 formation helping protect the back line while also progressing the ball with a good range of passing. He wouldn’t progress much into the final third due to limited control the limited control of games. At Celtic he would have much more opportunity to affect games from an offensive sense. A big attribute is the aerial presence he offers defensively with his large build which has been highlighted below in his action map.
Percentile Rank
The percentile rank template gives a good visualisation of strengths and weaknesses a player has – as it compares him to players of the same position in the same league.
As has been said Souza is a defensive powerhouse in Belgium ranking above the 80th percentile in all tracked defensive metrics. In possession he shows good attributes on progressing and recycling the ball. For more creative metrics he ranks far lower due to not being far up the pitch frequently. On viewing he could be a real threat with his passing in the final third but would need to be at a possession dominant side like Celtic to really test out those skills.
Radars
The radars compare against the best and worst in Scotland giving an easy visualisation of strengths not to dissimilar to the percentile chart above.
Defensive Radar
As with the percentile chart his raw data would come out to show that for just about every defensive metric Souza would be one of, if not the best at each tracked metric below. His mobility, strength, anticipation and aerial dominance make him a perfect defensive minded central player for Ange’s system.
Passing Radar
On the ball it is similar to what the percentile chart showed with Souza being a good progressor and recycler of the ball and not being able to show much final 3rd creativity due to his positioning on the pitch.
Offensive Radar
Not much to say offensively for Souza. In Belgium this isn’t much to do with his role. It would be interesting to see if he could offer more if able to stay further up the pitch and have final 3rd actions more frequently.
Overall, at just 22 Souza looks an extremely promising prospect for a club like Celtic. However, it may be a loan with an option to buy as he may command a large fee after such a good season. With Bitton gone and a few other central players likely to depart Souza would bring welcome competition for Callum McGregor at the base of the midfield. With Champions League football approaching a more defensive minded 6 may be required to keep Celtic competitive with the top sides in Europe.
