Emerson Palmieri dos Santos (born 3 August 1994), known as Emerson Palmieri or simply Emerson, is a 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

left-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 club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and the Italy national team. Internationally, Emerson played for his native Brazil at under-17 level, but he later declared his desire to represent Italy, having been granted

Italian citizenship Italian nationality law is the law of Italy governing the acquisition, transmission and loss of Italian citizenship. Like many continental European countries it is largely based on ''jus sanguinis''. It also incorporates many elements that are ...

in 2017. He has since been called up to the Italy national team, making his senior international debut with the side in 2018 and later taking part at

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, winning the tournament.

Club career

Santos

Born in Santos, São Paulo, Emerson played in Santos' youth team making his first team debut on 17 April 2011, coming on as a late substitute for

Keirrison Keirrison de Souza Carneiro (born 3 December 1988), nicknamed "K9", is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker, most recently for Londrina. Club career Coritiba Keirrison became a regular in Coritiba's main squad in 2007, he ...

in a 3–0 Campeonato Paulista home win against

Paulista Paulista is a municipality in Pernambuco, Brazil, with a population of 334,376 as of 2020. It has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) of the Recife metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of footballer Rivaldo and is also famous for its beac ...

. His first start occurred on 21 January 2012, in a 1–1 away draw against XV de Piracicaba. In February, he returned to the youth team, but he was called up to the match against Mogi Mirim in the following month. He also appeared against Ituano and

, as the club was crowned champions of ''Paulistão'' for the third consecutive time. On 17 June, Emerson made his Série A debut, in a 0–1 defeat against

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 ...

. He scored his first goal on 5 September 2013, but in a 1–2 loss at

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 ...

Palermo (loan)

On 25 August 2014, Emerson was loaned to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

's Palermo, with a buyout clause. He made his debut in the competition on 24 September, coming on as a second half substitute for Fabio Daprelà in a 3–3 away draw against

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Emerson played nine league matches for the club, being mainly a backup to another new signing, Achraf Lazaar.

Roma

On 31 August 2015, Emerson joined fellow league team

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, on loan for one year. A second-choice behind

Lucas Digne Lucas Digne (; born 20 July 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Aston Villa and the France national team. Digne began his career at Lille before joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2013. After spending a sea ...

, he made his debut for the club on 4 October in a 4–2 away win against former side Palermo. Emerson scored his first goal in the top league of Italian football on 14 May 2016, in a 3–1 away win against

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

; after replacing Stephan El Shaarawy in the 78th minute, he netted his team's third after a rebound. His loan was extended for a further season on 7 July. On 5 December 2016, after reaching 12 matches during the campaign, Emerson was bought outright for a reported 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 ...

2 million. Emerson missed much of the first half of the 2017–18 season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury that he suffered in May 2017. He made his comeback on 1 December 2017, coming off the bench in the last 15 minutes of the match against

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, sinc ...

for the Serie A, which turned out as his sole appearance for Roma during that season.

Chelsea

On 30 January 2018, Emerson joined English side

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on a four-and-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. According to Roma, the transfer fee was €20 million plus €9 million bonus. He made his debut against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

in the fifth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, assisting fellow January signing

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...

for his first Chelsea goal. The Blues came out 4–0 winners at Stamford Bridge. Emerson made his

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 ...

debut on 4 March 2018 as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 defeat at Manchester City. His first Premier League start came away to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

on 19 April. Emerson set up

Victor Moses Victor Moses (born 12 December 1990) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a winger on either flank for Russian club Spartak Moscow. He has also been deployed as a wing-back at times during his career. Moses began his career in t ...

for the winning goal as Chelsea claimed a 2–1 victory. Chelsea went on to win the

2017–18 FA Cup The 2017–18 FA Cup (also known as the FA Challenge Cup) was the 137th edition of the oldest recognised football tournament in the world. It was sponsored by Emirates, and known as The Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. 737 clubs were accep ...

but Emerson was injured and missed the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. On 26 September 2018, in his first appearance of the 2018–19 season, Emerson scored his first goal for Chelsea, the equaliser in an eventual 2–1 away win against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, in the third round of the EFL Cup. On 24 February 2019, he started for Chelsea in the 2019 EFL Cup Final on, and was one of the three Chelsea players to convert their spot kicks in the resulting shoot-out following a 0–0 draw after extra-time; however, Manchester City ultimately prevailed 4–3. On 29 May, he assisted

's opening goal in a 4–1 win over Arsenal in the

2019 UEFA Europa League Final The 2019 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA E ...

. On 17 March 2021, Emerson scored his first

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 ...

goal for the Blues in a 2–0 home win over Atlético Madrid in the second leg of the

Round of 16 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 matc ...

tie. Emerson was part of the Chelsea squad which won the

2021 UEFA Champions League Final The 2021 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Cup to the ...

1–0 against Manchester City, however did not come off the bench in the match.

Lyon (loan)

On 19 August 2021, Emerson joined Ligue 1 side

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

on a one-year loan.

West Ham United

On 23 August 2022, Emerson joined

side

on a four-year contract with a one-year option for an undisclosed fee from fellow Premier League club Chelsea. On 11 February 2023, Emerson played against his old side Chelsea in the London derby, and scored his side's first goal in the game.

International career

Emerson represented

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

at under-17 level during the

2011 South American U-17 Championship The 2011 South American Under-17 Football Championship ( es, link=no, Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-17 Ecuador 2011) was the 14th U-17 tournament for national teams affiliated with CONMEBOL. It was held in Ecuador from 12 March to 9 April 2011. Th ...

and during

2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the eleventh played since the change in age limits from under 16s to Under 17s in 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship, 1991. It was held in Mexico with games ...

, being crowned champions of the former. He was an undisputed starter during both tournaments, scoring a goal against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

on 16 March 2011. In March 2017, after being close to acquiring Italian citizenship, Emerson was reportedly pursued by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

head coach

Gian Piero Ventura Gian Piero Ventura (; born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a midfielder was spent in the lower leagues, having not made the grade at Sampdoria, where he began his coaching career with the youth team in 1 ...

with the intention of switching his international allegiance to Italy. He officially switched allegiance to Italy on 29 March 2017. Emerson was called up by Ventura for matches against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

in June 2017, however, withdrew due to injury and replaced by Andrea Conti. On 19 May 2018, new Italy coach

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sa ...

called Emerson for Italy's May and June friendly matches against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, however, he withdrew due to another injury. He was later called up again to the team in September 2018, for Italy's opening

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

matches against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

later that month. He made his senior international debut for Italy on 10 September, during the

match against Portugal, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Domenico Criscito Domenico "Mimmo" Criscito (; born 30 December 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left-back. He is set to join club Genoa on 2 January 2023. A versatile player, Criscito is effective both offensively and defensively and i ...

in his team's 1–0 away loss. In June 2021, Emerson was included in Italy's squad for

. On 11 July, Emerson won the European Championship with Italy following a 3–2

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

in the

, after a 1–1 draw in

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

; Emerson started the final, and was substituted for

Alessandro Florenzi Alessandro Florenzi (born 11 March 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for club AC Milan and the Italy national team. Florenzi started his professional club career with Roma in 2011, but spent the 2011–12 ...

in extra-time.

Style of play

Emerson usually plays as a left-back, and is known for his stamina, athleticism, physical qualities, and technique, which make him an effective offensive asset. He is also known for his ability to get past opponents and provide

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

into the penalty box. A versatile player, he is also capable of playing as a wing-back or

wide 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 ...

on the left flank, and has even been used in a more advanced role as an offensive winger on occasion. Emerson's Chelsea profile notes that he is "skilful, possesses a good range of passing and reads the game well".

Personal life

Emerson has Italian ancestry on his mother's side from Rossano, near Cosenza in Calabria, and has been an Italian citizen since March 2017. His older brother,

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

, is also a footballer and a left back.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Santos * Campeonato Paulista: 2011,

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 gat ...

Chelsea *

2020–21 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 ...

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. ...

: 2018–19 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

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 ...

; runner-up:

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 ...

runner-up: 2019–20,

* EFL Cup runner-up: 2018–19 Brazil U17 *

South American U-17 Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ) is a football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tournament for the newly created FIFA U-16 World Cup (no ...

: 2011 Italy *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

third place:

Orders :*

5th Class / Knight: '' Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana'': 2021

References

External links

Emerson
at

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

* * * * *
Profile at the Italian Football Federation

Profile at LegaSerieA.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmieri, Emerson 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian people of Italian descent Citizens of Italy through descent Brazilian footballers Brazil youth international footballers Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football fullbacks Santos FC players Palermo F.C. players A.S. Roma players Chelsea F.C. players Olympique Lyonnais players West Ham United F.C. players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players Premier League players Ligue 1 players UEFA Europa League winning players UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Euro 2020 players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in France UEFA European Championship-winning players Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic