Willian Souza Arão da Silva (born 12 March 1992) is a Brazilian

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 for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club Fenerbahçe, as

defensive 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 ...

or 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 ...

. Arão started his youth career playing 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 ...

and

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 ...

, where he had his first professional experience, although Arão spend most of his following years playing on loan for different Brazilian clubs. Including a very consistent 2015 season with

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

winning the 2015 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B. In 2016 Arão was involved in a very complicated transfer to

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

with Botafogo complaining about the way their rivals approached the player. The situation is still to be solved in the Brazilian justice court.

Career

Corinthians

Formed in the

, Willian was the new reinforcement in midfield of

in 2011. Featured in the

Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior The Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior (or ''São Paulo Youth Football Cup'', in English), also known as Copa São Paulo de Juniores (''São Paulo Youth Cup'') and Copinha (''Little Cup''), is a cup competition played by Brazilian under-20 associ ...

in 2011, the player has good quality in the tackle and can exercise its left side.

Portuguesa (loan)

On 6 August 2013 signed with Portuguesa a five month loan deal until the end of the 2013 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. At the club he played a total of fifteen matches including his first two continental appearances at

2013 Copa Sudamericana The 2013 Copa Sudamericana (officially the 2013 Copa Total Sudamericana for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The winner qu ...

Chapecoense (loan)

On 9 January 2014 Arão signed with Chapecoense a one year loan deal. At the club he didn't much chances playing only thirteen

Campeonato Catarinense The Campeonato Catarinense de Futebol, known as Campeonato Catarinense or simply Catarinense, is the main competition of association football from state of Santa Catarina, in Brazil. History The Campeonato Catarinense top level has had several ...

and two

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

matches, returning to Corinthians after only six months on 27 June 2014.

Atlético Goianiense (loan)

The second half of the 2014 season Arão played on loan at

Atlético Goianiense Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

, the transfer occurred on 18 September 2014. Arão played a total of thirteen

2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Serie B of the Brazilian Championship 2014 is a football competition held in Brazil, equivalent to the second division. It is contested by 20 clubs, between April 18 and November 28. The top four teams will be promoted to Série A in 2015 an ...

matches, twelve of those as starter.

Botafogo (loan)

On 10 January 2015, Willian Arão joined

on loan until the end of 2015 season. At Botafogo Arão had the best season of his career so far playing a total of 58 official matches, including 35 Série B matches scoring 5 goals, culminating with 2015 Série B title. He was one of the team most important players calling the attention of several other Brazilian clubs.

Flamengo

On 1 January 2016, Willian Arão joined

on a free transfer. He instantly earned a first team spot being selected to the 2016 Bola de Prata. On 28 December 2016 Arão signed another three-year contract with Flamengo until December 2019. In 2018 Arão lost space in the Flamengo's first team and the Brazilian press speculated a possible transfer. On May

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

showed interest in signing him on loan, although the transfer didn't happen. On 24 July 2018 Flamengo and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

agreed Arão's transfer for a sum 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 ...

2.5 million. A few days later, the transfer was canceled, since Arão and Olympiacos could not agree on how his salary would be paid. With head coach

Rogério Ceni Rogério Mücke Ceni (; born 22 January 1973) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who is in charge of São Paulo FC. He is considered one of the all-time greatest Brazilian goalkeepers and is recognised by the Inter ...

, during the 2020 season, Arão started to also play as

Fenerbahçe

On 14 July 2022, Arão moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing a two-year contract with an option for an additional year with Turkish club Fenerbahçe.

International career

On 19 January 2017 Arão was called up to the Brazil national team for the first time to play a friendly match against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Corinthians * FIFA Club World Cup:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

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 ...

* Recopa Sudamericana:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

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 ...

Botafogo *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B is commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B (Série B), and until 2022 was officially called Brasileirão Sportingbet by sponsorship reasons. It is the second tier of the Brazilian football league system ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Flamengo *

: 2019,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

: 2019,

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- ...

Supercopa do Brasil The Supercopa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Super Cup) is a Brazilian association football trophy organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It is contested between the champions of the Campeonato Brasileiro and the winners of the Copa d ...

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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

* Recopa Sudamericana:

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

: 2017, 2019,

* FIFA Club World Cup runner-up: 2019 Fenerbahçe *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual

Team of the year: 2016 * Bola de Prata: 2016, 2019 * South American Team of the Year: 2021

References

External links

Player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arao, Willian Living people 1992 births Footballers from São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players Atlético Clube Goianiense players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players CR Flamengo footballers Men's association football midfielders Copa Libertadores-winning players