Kaiky Fernandes Melo (born 12 January 2004), simply known as Kaiky, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for La Liga club Almería.

Club career

Santos

Born in Santos, São Paulo, Kaiky joined Santos' youth setup from local side Portuários. Initially playing futsal, he started to appear in the club's football categories at the age of nine. On 21 December 2020, Kaiky signed his first professional contract with ''Peixe'', agreeing to a three-year deal. He made his professional debut the following 28 February, starting in a 2–2

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

away draw against Santo André. On his

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

debut on 9 March 2021, Kaiky started and scored his first professional goal, netting the winner in a 2–1 home success over

Deportivo Lara ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable), an aerial lift station in Ecatepec, Mexico * Deport ...

; aged 17 years, one month and 25 days, he became the youngest Brazilian to score in the competition and second overall, only behind Juan Carlos Cárdenas; his record was broken in the following month by teammate Ângelo. Kaiky made his Série A debut on 29 May 2021, starting in a 0–3 away loss against Bahia. On 27 April 2022, after establishing himself in the first team squad, he renewed his contract until December 2026.

Almería

On 11 July 2022, Santos agreed to transfer Kaiky to Spanish La Liga side UD Almería for a rumoured fee of €7 million. The move was officially announced eight days later, with the player signing a six-year deal. Kaiky made his debut abroad on 14 August 2022, starting in a 2–1 home loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

International career

Kaiky was called up to the under-15 team in 2019, and featured in the

2019 South American U-15 Championship The 2019 South American Under-15 Football Championship was the 9th edition of the South American Under-15 Football Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the CONMEBOL for the men's under-15 national teams ...

for the side as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He featured in six matches during the tournament as his side lifted the trophy. In 2020, Kaiky was called multiple times to the under-17s, in a training period ahead of the

2021 South American U-17 Championship The 2021 South American U-17 Championship was originally going be the 19th edition of the South American U-17 Championship ( es, CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the ...

Career statistics

Honours

International

Brazil U15 * South American U-15 Championship:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* 2004 births Living people Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian footballers Men's association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players La Liga players Santos FC players UD Almería players Brazil men's youth international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain {{Brazil-footy-defender-2000s-stub