Kaio Jorge Pinto Ramos (born 24 January 2002), known as Kaio Jorge () or simply Kaio, is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a striker for club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

Club career

Santos

Born in

Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Recife metropolitan area, Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state capi ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

, Kaio joined Santos' under-11s in 2013. In November 2017, aged only 15, he was promoted to the under-20 squad. On 21 September 2018, Kaio was promoted to the first-team by manager Cuca. He made his professional – and Série A – debut nine days later, coming on as a second-half substitute for Bruno Henrique in a 1–0 home defeat of

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

, becoming the sixth youngest to debut in Santos' history. On 11 January 2019, after lengthy negotiations, Kaio signed his first professional contract with the club, agreeing to a three-year deal. He scored his first goal for ''Peixe'' on 3 March of the following year, netting his team's second in a 2–1

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 ...

away win against

Defensa y Justicia Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known as Defensa y Justicia, is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935.

; it was also his debut match in the competition.

Juventus

On 26 July 2021, Kaio reportedly agreed to a pre-contract with Italian side

, effective as of 1 January. On 2 August, Santos announced an agreement with Juventus for his immediate transfer, with the Italian side paying a rumoured fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

3 million. Juventus officially announced Kaio's transfer on 17 August, signing him on a five-year contract. On 23 August, Kaio suffered a medium-grade injury to the

rectus femoris The rectus femoris muscle is one of the four quadriceps muscles of the human body. The others are the vastus medialis, the vastus intermedius (deep to the rectus femoris), and the vastus lateralis. All four parts of the quadriceps muscle attach to ...

. On 1 September, Kaio was excluded from Juventus' 23-man squad for the UEFA Champions League group stage. He played his first match since this injury (and the first one for Juventus) on 2 October, in a 1–0 away win against cross-city rivals

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, coming on as substitute in the 89th minute. On 20 October, Kaio played a match with Juventus U23 — the reserve team of Juventus — in a 2–2

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

away draw against AlbinoLeffe, where he missed a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

and scored a goal. In January 2022, Kaio refused a loan move to

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label=Modenese dialect, Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town ...

. On 2 February, Juventus' coach

Massimiliano Allegri Massimiliano Allegri (; born 11 August 1967), also known as Max Allegri, is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Juventus. During his playing career, Allegri played in the Serie A as a midfielder ...

did not include Kaio in the UEFA Champions League knock-out stage squad. Kaio was called up by Juventus U23 again on 22 February, for a match against Pro Patria set to be played the following day, where he injured his

patellar tendon The patellar tendon is the distal portion of the common tendon of the quadriceps femoris, which is continued from the patella to the tibial tuberosity. It is also sometimes called the patellar ligament as it forms a bone to bone connection when t ...

. He ended the 2021–22 season early, having only played 125 minutes in nine matches with the first team (none as a starter).

International career

Kaio was called up to the Brazil U15 team for the 2017 South American U-15 Championship, scoring four goals in three matches during the tournament. On 21 September 2018, he was called up to the U17 team for a friendly tournament in

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

and

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...

, England. On 20 September 2019, Kaio was included in Guilherme Dalla Déa's 21-man list for the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

. He scored five goals in the competition, including one in the final (a 2–1 defeat of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

), and was awarded the Bronze Boot.

Personal life

Kaio's father Jorge Ramos was also a footballer and a forward who notably represented Chaves and Gama.

Career statistics

Honours

Brazil U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

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 ...

Individual *

Bronze Boot:

References

External links

Santos FC profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaio Jorge 2002 births Living people People from Olinda Sportspeople from Pernambuco Brazilian footballers Association football forwards Santos FC players Juventus F.C. players Juventus Next Gen players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players Serie C players Brazil youth international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy