If you know that Brazil it’s an endless hotbed of world-class players. In the favelas and neighborhoods of the South American giant, a large part of the cracks of the future are forged and an example of this is Patrick de Paula, Palmeiras midfielder, 21 years old and 1.78 meters tall, whom Tigres will face this Sunday in the Club World Cup Semifinal.
Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Patrick was a resident of one of the most dangerous favelas in that city, where he was discovered in 2017 at the age of 18 by Palmeiras viewers while he was contesting the Taça (Cup) das Favelas, a well-known contest in the popular neighborhoods of Brazil. There, de Paula played with the Cara Virada Futebol Arte team.
The Verdao’s viewers immediately recognized Patrick’s great quality, who at that time was playing as a midfielder, so he was invited to the club to be tested. After two years in the minor categories, he was promoted to the Palmeiras first team and made his debut in the First Division on January 26, 2020, just a little over a year ago in the duel against Sao Paulo for the Paulista Championship.
It was the technician Vanderlei Luxemburgo, then strategist of the Verdao, who apart from debuting Patrick, gave him all the confidence to become owner of the midfield of his team, which precisely won the 2020 Paulista Championship Thanks to the fact that in the penalty shootout in the Final against Corinthians, Paula, with cold blood and enormous responsibility, took the decisive maximum penalty of the series.
With a year on the top Brazilian circuit, de Paula has become a very important player for Palmeiras. In the Brasileirao 2020 he played 20 games as a starter, in the Paulista Championship that they won he played 11, while in the Libertadores, in which they were also crowned, played 6 games, 4 as a starter.
‘I SAW PEOPLE SHOOTING IN THE FAVELA; HE’S NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING’
Luxembourg saw in Patrick a footballer who aspires to the highest level; But not only that, he also described it in a very peculiar way, after the now midfielder scored the winning goal against Ponte Petra on August 2, 2020 in the Semifinal of the Paulista Championship.
“Patrick came from the favela championship. Imagine where it came from. He saw people shooting all over the place, so he’s only concerned about playing soccer. Today, these guys are not afraid of anything else, “said DT.
PALMEIRAS SHIELDED HIM WITH A CLAUSE OF 100 MDE
Patrick’s projection in Brazilian football is so great that he Palmeiras shielded him with a scandalous buyout clause of 100 million euros, in a contract that binds him to his current club until 2024, after Benfica of Portugal tried to take the player to Europe.
De Paula is not the only Palmeiras player who has that scandalous figure in his contract, since Danilo (19 years old) also has the same amount, while later players such as Gabriel Menino (20 years old) and Gabriel Verón (18 years old), whose clauses are 60 million euros.
