Paolo Mauricio Lemos Merladett (born 28 December 1995) is a Uruguayan 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 centre-back 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. He also represents the Uruguay national team.

Club career

Defensor

Born in

Rivera Rivera () is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a street away from it, at the north end of Route 5. Together, they form an urban area of aro ...

, Lemos was a

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievem ...

youth graduate. On 6 January 2014, aged 18, he was promoted to the main squad. Lemos made his professional debut on 11 May 2014, starting in a 2–1 home loss against

Montevideo Wanderers Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...

. After appearing in only two matches during his debut campaign, he was more regularly used in his second; however, his appearances were limited due to an apendicitis and call-ups to the under-20 national team.

Rubin Kazan

On 3 July 2015, Lemos was loaned to

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

side

FC Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

, for one year. He made his debut for the club on 3 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away defeat to

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

. After appearing in eight matches for the club (four in the league), Lemos was bought outright.

Las Palmas

On 28 January 2016, Lemos was loaned to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

side

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at t ...

, with a buyout clause. He made his debut in the competition on 20 February, coming on as a second-half substitute for Jonathan Viera in a 1–2 home loss against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

. On 6 May 2016, after appearing in nine matches for the ''Amarillos'', Lemos signed a permanent five-year deal with the club effective in July. He scored his first goal in the main category of Spanish football the following 30 January, netting his team's second in a 3–1 home win against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

. On 10 March 2017, Lemos scored a brace in a 4–3 away win against

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

On loan to Sassuolo

On 22 January 2018, Las Palmas announced they had reached an agreement with Italian club

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label= 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 is best known f ...

to sell him immediately.

Fenerbahçe

On 26 August 2020, Fenerbahçe announced Lemos signed a three-year contract.

International career

Lemos has represented

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 ...

with the U23 team at

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

, winning the gold medal. He received maiden call-up to senior team in October 2017 and was included in the squad to play friendlies 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

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He made his debut on 10 November 2017, playing 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw against Poland.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Uruguay U23 * Pan American Games: 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemos, Mauricio Living people 1995 births People from Rivera Department Uruguayan footballers Association football defenders Defensor Sporting players FC Rubin Kazan players UD Las Palmas players U.S. Sassuolo Calcio players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers K Beerschot VA players Uruguayan Primera División players Russian Premier League players La Liga players Serie A players Segunda División players Uruguay under-20 international footballers 2015 South American Youth Football Championship players Pan American Games gold medalists for Uruguay Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Uruguayan expatriate footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Russia Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Spain Pan American Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games