Leonardo da Silva Souza (born 18 March 1992), known simply as Leonardo, 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 ...

. He operates as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who can play on both flanks. Leonardo arrived to Europe at an early age, making his senior debuts with Cypriot club

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club ( el, Ένωση Νέων Παραλιμνίου, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou'', "Youth Union of Paralimni"), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the fi ...

in 2012. He subsequently moved to Ukrainian club

Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Доне́цьк, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football ...

in early 2013. After six months there, Leonardo switched to Azerbaijani club Gabala. He changed clubs and countries again in August 2014, joining Russian club

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

. In the summer of 2016, Leonardo signed with Serbian club

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

, helping them win the double in the 2016–17 season.

Career

Early years

A native of Paraná, Leonardo started out at local club Matsubara. He later moved to Belgium and joined the youth team of Beerschot. In April 2012, it was announced that Leonardo signed a three-year contract with Ukrainian club

Tavriya Simferopol Sports Club Tavriya ( uk, Спортивний клуб "Таврія") was a Ukrainian football club from Simferopol. Tavriya was a member of the Ukrainian Premier League from its founding and won the first Ukrainian Premier League making them ...

with an effective date of 1 July 2012. He eventually joined Cypriot side

only a few months later. After promising performances in Cyprus, Leonardo made a return to Ukraine and signed with

on a three-year deal in January 2013. However, due to player's third-party ownership with his agent Dmitry Selyuk, the Cypriot club did not receive any transfer fee.

Gabala

On 13 July 2013, Leonardo joined Azerbaijani club Gabala on a one-year deal. He scored seven league goals from 31 appearances in the 2013–14 season. They also finished as runners-up in the Azerbaijan Cup, losing on penalties to Neftçi after a 1–1 draw.

Anzhi Makhachkala

On 10 August 2014, Leonardo signed a two-year contract with Russian club

. He scored his first competitive goal for the club on his 23rd birthday, finding the back of the net in the 84th minute of a 5–1 home league victory over Yenisey Krasnoyarsk. On 10 May 2015, Leonardo scored twice in a 3–1 home win over

Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura River. Fueled by the Russian oil and gas in ...

. He scored a total of seven league goals in his debut season in the country, helping the club win promotion back to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

at the first time. On 22 August 2015, Leonardo scored his first RFPL goal in a 1–1 draw with Ural Yekaterinburg, converting a second-half penalty. However, the club eventually terminated his contract on 25 February 2016, due to the player's disciplinary record.

Partizan

In June 2016, it was announced that Leonardo agreed to join Serbian club

on a three-year deal. He was officially presented two weeks later and assigned the number 42 shirt. On 24 July 2016, Leonardo made his competitive debut for Partizan, coming off the bench as a second-half substitute for Miroslav Radović in the goalless draw against

Bačka Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hunga ...

. He netted his first goal for the club on 20 August 2016, shortly after substituting Saša Ilić in an eventual 1–2 away loss to Spartak Subotica. Seven days later, Leonardo scored from a

direct free kick A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the laws by the opposing team. Direct and indirect free kicks Free kicks may be either direct or indirect, distinguished as follows: ...

in a 4–0 home league win over Rad. On 17 September 2016, Leonardo scored the winning goal in the 89th minute of the Belgrade derby, giving his team a 1–0 win at home. He subsequently found the back of the net in the next four games, including a remarkable goal in a 1–0 away win over Metalac Gornji Milanovac. By the end of the year, Leonardo scored six more league goals, including two braces in two home wins over

Napredak Kruševac Napredak may refer to: *HKD Napredak, cultural society of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina *FK Napredak Kruševac, Serbian football club *FK Napredak Aleksinac, Serbian football club *FK Napredak Banatska Topola Fudbalski klub Napredak () is a f ...

(3–2) in November, and Spartak Subotica (2–0) in December. On 18 April 2017, Leonardo scored a brace in the Belgrade derby, an eventual 3–1 away success. He ultimately collected the domestic double in his debut season at Partizan. Due to his consistent performances in the process, Leonardo was named in the league's best eleven. On 11 July 2017, Leonardo netted his first goal in

UEFA competitions UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur asso ...

, giving Partizan a 2–0 home win over Budućnost Podgorica in the first leg of the Champions League second qualifying round. On 3 August 2017, Leonardo was transferred to Saudi club Al-Ahli for a fee of €4 million. He signed a two-year deal with an option for two more seasons.

Al Wahda

In August 2018, Leonardo signed a two-year contract with Emirati club Al Wahda on a free transfer. He scored four goals to give his team a 4–3 home victory over

Al-Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...

in the fourth round of matches in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

of the AFC Champions League.

Shabab Al-Ahli

On 31 August 2019, Shabab Al-Ahli has signed Leonardo for one seasons from Al Wahda.

Personal life

Leonardo's older brother, Alan, is also a footballer. In January 2016, during a vacation in his homeland, Leonardo was involved in a fatal road traffic accident whilst intoxicated.

Statistics

Honours

Club

;Gabala * Azerbaijan Cup: Runner-up 2013–14 ;Partizan *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

: 2016–17 *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup (Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup f ...

: 2016–17 ;Al Wahda *

UAE Super Cup The UAE Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر الإماراتي), is the curtain raiser of the United Arab Emirates football season. It is played between the previous season's Pro-League winners and President's Cup Winners. The first edition was p ...

: 2018

Individual

Top Scorer: 2016–17 *

Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season The Serbian SuperLiga Team of the Season is an annual award given to a set of 11 footballers in the top tier of Serbian football, the SuperLiga, who are seen to be the best 11 players of the calendar season. Winners 2008–09 Source 2009–10 ...

: 2016–17 *

2019 AFC Champions League The 2019 AFC Champions League was the 38th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 17th under the current AFC Champions League title. Al-Hilal defeated Urawa Red Diamond ...

OPTA Best XI *

Fans' Best XI

References

External links