Willian Souza Arão da Silva (born 12 March 1992) 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 lea ...

who plays for Santos. Mainly a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, he can also play as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Arão started his youth career playing for

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () 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-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

, 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 The Serie B of the Brazilian Championship 2015 is a football competition held in Brazil, equivalent to the second division. It is contested by 20 clubs, between May 9 and November 28. The top four teams will have access to Série A in 2016 and ...

. In 2016 Arão was involved in a very complicated transfer to

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

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

Club career

Early career

Born in

, Arão began his career in the youth sides of Grêmio Barueri at the age of 15. He left for

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

in 2008, and became a part of the squad which won the 2010

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 assoc ...

. Shortly after winning the ''Copinha'', Arão was spotted by agent

Mino Raiola Carmine "Mino" Raiola (; 4 November 1967 – 30 April 2022) was an Italian-Dutch football agent known for having represented players such as Pavel Nedvěd, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Paul Pogba, and Erling Haaland. Raiola began his career in the N ...

, who brought him to Spanish side

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

. He spent eight months at the club, and despite training with the main squad and with the B-team, he was unable to play due to bureaucratic problems.

Corinthians

In November 2011, Arão moved to

. After appearing with the main squad in a friendly against

, he made his professional debut on 15 April 2012, starting in a 2–1

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

away win over Ponte Preta. A backup to Ralf and

Paulinho Paulinho is a Portuguese nickname for people named ''Paulo'' (Paulo - inho, little Paulo). People known as Paulinho include: Music *Paulinho da Costa (born 1948), Brazilian percussionist *Paulinho da Viola (born 1942), Brazilian sambista *Paulinho ...

, Arão was a part of both

2012 Copa Libertadores The 2012 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2012 Copa Santander Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 53rd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournament organized ...

and

2012 FIFA Club World Cup The 2012 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2012 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament that was played from 6 to 16 December 2012. It was the ninth edition of the FIFA Club Worl ...

squads, despite not featuring in both competitions; in the former, he replaced

Adriano Adriano is the form of the Latin given name ''Hadrianus'' commonly used in the Italian language; the form Adrião can be used in the Portuguese language while the form Adrian is used in the English language. Notable people with the name include: ...

in the list for the quarterfinals, and in the latter, he was registered after Guilherme Andrade was signed after the allowed date by FIFA.

Portuguesa (loan)

On 6 August 2013, after being demoted to fourth-choice, Arão was loaned to fellow top tier side Portuguesa until the end of the year. 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 qua ...

Chapecoense (loan)

On 9 January 2014, Arão signed with Chapecoense a one-year loan deal. Regularly used in the year's

Campeonato Catarinense The Campeonato Catarinense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It is run by the Santa Catarina Football Federation (FCF). History The Catarinense has had different names throughout ...

, he scored his first professional goal on 12 February, netting his side's second in a 3–2 home win over Atlético Hermann Aichinger. On 27 June 2014, after just two Série A matches, Arão's loan was cut short.

Atlético Goianiense (loan)

On 18 September 2014, after failing to make an appearance back at Corinthians, Arão was loaned to Série B side

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 Cl ...

until the end of the year. He 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

On 10 January 2015, Arão joined

on loan until the end of 2015 season. A regular starter, he scored seven goals in 58 appearances overall for the club; one of those goals was the winner in a 2–1 away success over

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

which sealed Botafogo's

title.

Renewal attempts and transfer issues

On 27 November 2015, after media outlet '' GloboEsporte.com'' reported that Arão had a deal with

, Botafogo exercised the R$ 400,000 buyout clause on his loan deal, and activated a permanent two-year contract. Hours later, Arão sent back the sum to Botafogo, and the club tried to pay the sum three days later, which was also returned; Botafogo later went to Court to secure the player's rights. As Arão owned 50% of his economic rights (thus being a " third-party ownership"), himself and his representatives considered the new regulation from

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

(which took effect on 1 May 2015) banning third-party ownership and considering the contracts signed between January and April 2015 of a maximum of one year. Despite Botafogo considering the contract was valid due to its register in the CBF and in the FERJ, and having the first instance on their favour, Arão was declared a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

on 10 December 2015.

Flamengo

On 14 December 2015, Flamengo announced the signing of Arão on a three-year contract. 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, he lost space in the first team and was linked to a move to Internacional and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

, which never materialized. Flamengo and the Greek side agreed to a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

2.5 million fee, but the transfer was canceled a few days later after Arão failed to agree terms of his wages. On 24 December 2018, after regaining his starting spot, Arão further extended his link with ''Fla'' until 2021. In the following campaign, he was moved to a more defensive midfield position by new head coach

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. Most recently he was the manager of Saudi Professional League, Saudi P ...

, becoming an important unit of the club's

Carioca Carioca ( or ) is a demonym used to refer to residents of the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil and their culture. Like other Brazilians, ''Cariocas'' speak Portuguese. The ''carioca'' accent and sociolect (also simply called "''carioca''", ...

, Série A and

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

wins. With head coach

Rogério Ceni Rogério Ceni (; born 22 January 1973) is a Brazilian professional Association football, football Coach (sport), coach and former player who is in charge of Esporte Clube Bahia, Bahia. He is considered one of the all-time greatest Brazilian Goalk ...

, during the 2020 season, Arão started to also feature 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. Reunited with former Flamengo head coach Jesus, he was a regular starter during his only season at the club.

Panathinaikos

On 17 August 2023, after Jesus' departure from Fenerbachçe, Arão also left the club to join Greek side

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

on a two-year contract. On 20 May 2025, after two seasons as a starter, the club announced his departure.

Santos

On 1 July 2025, Santos announced the signing of Arão until December 2026.

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 primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. He made his full international debut six days later, starting in the 1–0 win at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos, Nilton Santos.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Corinthians *FIFA Club World Cup: 2012 FIFA Club World Cup, 2012 *Copa Libertadores: 2012 Copa Libertadores, 2012 *Recopa Sudamericana: 2013 Recopa Sudamericana, 2013 *

: 2013 Campeonato Paulista, 2013 Botafogo *Campeonato Brasileiro Série B: 2015 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, 2015 Flamengo *Copa Libertadores: 2019 Copa Libertadores, 2019, 2022 Copa Libertadores, 2022 *Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 2019 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 2019, 2020 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, 2020 *Supercopa do Brasil: 2020 Supercopa do Brasil, 2020, 2021 Supercopa do Brasil, 2021 *Recopa Sudamericana: 2020 Recopa Sudamericana, 2020 *Campeonato Carioca: 2017 Campeonato Carioca, 2017, 2019 Campeonato Carioca, 2019, 2020 Campeonato Carioca, 2020, 2021 Campeonato Carioca, 2021 Fenerbahçe *Turkish Cup: 2022–23 Turkish Cup, 2022–23 Panathinaikos *Greek Football Cup, Greek Cup: 2023–24 Greek Football Cup, 2023–24

Individual

*Campeonato Carioca Team of the Year: 2016 Campeonato Carioca, 2016 *Bola de Ouro, Bola de Prata: Bola de Ouro#Bola de Prata, 2016, Bola de Ouro#Bola de Prata, 2019 *:pt:Troféu Mesa Redonda, Best Defensive Midfielder in Brazil: :pt:Troféu Mesa Redonda#2016, 2016, :pt:Troféu Mesa Redonda#2019, 2019, :pt:Troféu Mesa Redonda#2021, 2021 * :es:Anexo:Equipo Ideal de la Copa Libertadores, Copa Libertadores Team of the Tournament: 2021 Copa Libertadores, 2021 *:es:Equipo Ideal de América, 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 Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Brazil men's international footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Süper Lig players Super League Greece players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players Atlético Clube Goianiense players Botafogo FR players CR Flamengo footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Panathinaikos F.C. players Santos FC players Copa Libertadores–winning players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Greece 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen