Diego Carlos Santos Silva (born 15 March 1993), known as Diego Carlos, is a Brazilian professional who plays as a defender for English club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Club career

Early career

Carlos began his senior career with

Desportivo Brasil Desportivo Brasil Participações Ltda., commonly referred to as Desportivo Brasil, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Porto Feliz, São Paulo. The team competes in the Campeonato Paulista Série A3, the third tier of t ...

. In September 2012, Carlos signed for

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, playing for their B-Team. He went on to sign for

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...

and Madureira for loan spells.

Estoril and Porto loan

On 2 July 2014, Carlos signed for Portuguese club Estoril. He spent one year with their development team before going on loan to

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

. He went on to make 19 appearances with them in the Liga Portugal 2. After his loan move, Carlos featured for Estoril in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

- scoring his first goal for the club on 25 October 2015. in a 2–2 draw against

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

Nantes

In June 2016, it was announced Carlos would join

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, a ...

on a five-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Estoril was an estimated €2 million. He made his debut for Nantes on 25 October 2016, in a 2–1 victory over Angers in the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

. His first goal for the club came on 12 February 2017, in a 3–2

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

victory over

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. On 14 January 2018, during a Ligue 1 match between Nantes and Paris Saint-Germain, referee

Tony Chapron Tony Chapron (born 23 April 1972) is a French former football referee. Born in Flers, Orne, Chapron took up refereeing in 1996 in conjunction with his job as an educational advisor. He became a full-time referee in 1998 and an international re ...

appeared to kick Carlos following a collision before sending him off for a second bookable offence. Chapron, who was suspended by the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of football in France. It also includes the overseas departments ( Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the over ...

, admitted his mistake and asked for Carlos' second yellow card to be rescinded. As a result, the French football league withdrew the second yellow card.

Sevilla

On 31 May 2019, Spanish club

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

announced it had reached an agreement with Nantes for the transfer of Carlos. He made his debut in a 2–0 away victory over

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

. Carlos was part of the club's successful

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

campaign. In the run-up to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, he conceded penalties in both of Sevilla's quarter-final and semi-final matches against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, respectively and then also gave away a penalty early on in the final itself against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

on 21 August 2020. He had a hand in the game-winning goal as his

overhead kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

was turned into the net by Romelu Lukaku. In the 2021–22 season, Sevilla went on to have one of the strongest defenses in La Liga and across Europe's top leagues, with Carlos' leadership at centre-back being cited as one of the reasons for this. Because of that, Carlos began to attract the interest of several clubs across Europe, with English clubs

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and West Ham United reportedly attempting to sign him in the January transfer window of 2022.

Aston Villa

On 26 May 2022, English club

announced they had reached an agreement with Sevilla for Carlos' transfer. The fee was undisclosed by the club but was reported to be £26 million. Ahead of his first season with Aston Villa, he was named by manager

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

as one of two vice-captains, alongside

Emiliano Martínez Damián Emiliano Martínez (born 2 September 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest leve ...

. On 6 August, he made his debut for the club in the Premier League in 2-0 away loss against

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

. On 13 August, he made his

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

debut in a 2–1 victory over Everton. In the same game, he ruptured his

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

, which saw him requiring surgery.

International career

On 3 November 2020, Carlos received a late call-up to the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

squad for two 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. On 17 June 2021, Carlos was named to the Brazilian squad for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Career statistics

Honours

Sevilla *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

: 2019–20 Brazil Olympic *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Aston Villa F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diego Carlos Living people 1993 births Brazilian footballers Footballers from São Paulo (state) Association football defenders Desportivo Brasil players São Paulo FC players Paulista Futebol Clube players Madureira Esporte Clube players G.D. Estoril Praia players FC Porto B players FC Nantes players Sevilla FC players Aston Villa F.C. players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Ligue 1 players La Liga players Premier League players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England UEFA Europa League winning players Olympic footballers of Brazil Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Olympic gold medalists for Brazil Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics