Luiz de Araújo Guimarães Neto (born 2 June 1996), known as Luiz Araújo (), 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 ...

who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

Career

São Paulo

Born in

Taquaritinga Taquaritinga is a city in the Central North area of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The population is 57,364 (2020 est.) in an area of 594 km². The population is formed basically by European descendants (Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese). Af ...

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 Ga ...

, Araújo began his career with

Mirassol Mirassol is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city is located in the northern part of the state, 453 km from the city of São Paulo and 15 km from São José do Rio Preto. Mirassol has 60,303 inhabitants (IBGE/2020). ...

as a youth, before being promoted to the first team in January 2013. Before he could make his debut for Mirassol, Araújo joined

, returning to youth football.

Loan to Novorizontino

On 26 February 2016, after finishing as the top scorer in the U-20 Copa Libertadores, Araújo was loaned to Novorizontino until the end of the Campeonato Paulista in April. He made his professional debut for the club on 19 March, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 home draw against XV de Piracicaba.

Return to São Paulo

Following the Campeonato Paulista season, Araújo returned to

and immediately joined the first team. He made his senior and Série A debut for the club on 5 June 2016 against Cruzeiro, replacing Ytalo in a 1–0 victory. He then made his debut in the Copa Libertadores on 13 July 2016 against

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the oth ...

in the second leg of the

semifinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 2–1 defeat. On 5 November, Araújo scored his first professional goal, a late second half stoppage time strike to help São Paulo win 4–0 over

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

. Araújo finished his debut season with São Paulo on 11 December against Santa Cruz, scoring the fifth goal in a 5–0 home victory. On 15 December 2017, Araújo scored his first two goals of the season, earning a brace in a 3–1 away victory against Santos in the Campeonato Paulista. He played his final match for São Paulo on 4 June 2017, a 1–0 defeat against Ponte Preta.Luiz Araújo acerta detalhes com Lille e não joga mais pelo São Paulo
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Lille

On 14 June 2017, Araújo signed for French Ligue 1 club

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, for a reported €10.5 million. He made his debut for the club in their opening match on 6 August against Nantes, starting for

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

's side in a 3–0 victory. Araújo then scored his first goal for Lille on 14 October in a 2–2 home draw against Troyes. His goal was a 12th-minute equalizer. Araújo completed his first season at Lille with 6 goals in 36 matches as the club barely managed to survive relegation from the first division. During the 2018–19 season, Araújo dropped to just six starts in the league but played in 27 matches overall in Ligue 1, contributing three goals, as Lille finished 2nd behind

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. The next season, 2019–20, Araújo continued as a regular substitute for Lille but played more matches overall. He scored his first goal of the campaign on 13 September 2019 against

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

in a 2–1 home victory. Araújo then made his European debut for Lille in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

on 17 September against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

. He came on as a 63rd-minute substitute in the 3–0 defeat. Araújo would go on to play in all six matches, earning three starts, for Lille as they were knocked out after the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

, finishing last. Following the 2019–20 season, which was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Araújo began the 2020–21 season as an 83rd-minute substitute against Rennais in a 1–1 draw. He then scored two goals in two matches on 13 September and 20 September against

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

and

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 Fra ...

. His goal against Metz was the only goal in the 1–0 victory and the opening goal in the 1–1 draw against Marseille. Araújo made his debut for Lille in their opening match of the

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. ...

group stage on 22 October 2020 in a 4–1 away victory against

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

. Lille would go on to finish 2nd in their group and qualify for the knock-outs. On 3 December, he suffered an injury during the club's home match against Sparta Prague, leaving Araújo out until 2021. Araújo returned to the pitch for Lille on 17 January 2021 against Reims. On 16 April, Araújo scored the equalizer for Lille in a 1–1 draw against Montpellier. The draw helped keep Lille six points ahead of

for the league title. The title was soon secured during the final match on 23 May against

, with Lille winning by just a point over Paris Saint-Germain. Araújo came on as an 82nd-minute substitute during the 2–1 away victory. On 1 August 2021, Araújo played his final match for Lille, in the

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

against Paris Saint-Germain. He started and played 85 minutes as Lille secured a 1–0 victory at Bloomfield Stadium in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

Atlanta United

On 6 August 2021, Araújo signed with Major League Soccer side

as a

designated player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

. He made his debut for the club on 18 August against

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

, playing 67 minutes in a 1–0 victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Araújo scored his first goal for the club on 15 September, converting after getting the ball 50 yards from goal, spinning past his defender, running and curling his shot into the left corner in the 5th minute, as Atlanta United won 4–0 at home.

Career statistics

Honours

Lille * Ligue 1: 2020–21 *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Araujo, Luiz 1996 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo (state) Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Ligue 1 players Major League Soccer players Mirassol Futebol Clube players São Paulo FC players Lille OSC players Atlanta United FC players Designated Players (MLS) Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate soccer players in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States