Emerson Aparecido Leite de Souza Junior (born 14 January 1999), known as Emerson Royal or simply Emerson, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Brazil national team.
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Emerson Aparecido Leite de Souza Junior[1] | |||||||||||||||
Date of birth | (1999-01-14) 14 January 1999 (age 23)[2] | |||||||||||||||
Place of birth | São Paulo, Brazil | |||||||||||||||
Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[3] | |||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Right-back | |||||||||||||||
Club information | ||||||||||||||||
Current team | Tottenham Hotspur | |||||||||||||||
Number | 12 | |||||||||||||||
Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
Condor | ||||||||||||||||
Unidos da Cordenonsi | ||||||||||||||||
Guanabara | ||||||||||||||||
Palmeiras | ||||||||||||||||
Grêmio | ||||||||||||||||
São Paulo | ||||||||||||||||
2014–2016 | Ponte Preta | |||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
2016–2018 | Ponte Preta | 19 | (1) | |||||||||||||
2018–2019 | Atlético Mineiro | 23 | (1) | |||||||||||||
2019 | → Betis (loan) | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2019–2021 | Barcelona | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2019–2021 | → Betis (loan) | 67 | (4) | |||||||||||||
2021– | Tottenham Hotspur | 39 | (1) | |||||||||||||
National team‡ | ||||||||||||||||
2017–2019 | Brazil U20 | 11 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2019–2020 | Brazil U23 | 10 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2019– | Brazil | 7 | (0) | |||||||||||||
Honours
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:39, 1 October 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 January 2022 |
Emerson was born in São Paulo and was raised in Americana, São Paulo.[4] He got his nickname "Royal" as his uncle said he resembled the mascot of the Royal-branded gelatin dessert sold in Brazil.[5]
Emerson joined Ponte Preta's youth setup in 2014, after notably representing Palmeiras, São Paulo and Grêmio.[6][4] After appearing as an unused substitute in some matches of the 2016 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, he made his senior debut on 22 February 2017, replacing injured Artur in a 2–2 Campeonato Paulista away draw against Linense. Despite being booked and conceding a penalty, he was given his first start three days later, in a 1–0 home defeat of São Bernardo.[citation needed]
Emerson made his Série A debut on 5 November 2017, replacing injured John Kleber in a 2–0 loss at Bahia. He contributed with three league appearances during the campaign, as his side suffered relegation.[citation needed]
Promoted to the first team ahead of the 2018 season,[7] Emerson became a regular starter for Macaca, making 14 appearances in the 2018 Campeonato Paulista. On 2 April 2018, he scored his first professional goal, the winning one in the Campeonato Paulista do Interior final against Mirassol.[8]
On 27 April 2018, Emerson signed a five-year deal with Atlético Mineiro,[9] for a rumoured fee of R$5 million. As a part of the deal, Danilo Barcelos moved in the opposite direction on loan.[10]
Emerson made his debut for the club on 19 May 2018, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 win over rivals Cruzeiro.[11] Initially a backup to Patric, he ended the year with 23 league appearances. He scored his first goal in the top tier on 30 September, netting his team's third in a 5–2 home routing of Sport.[citation needed]
On 31 January 2019, Atlético announced the transfer of Emerson to Barcelona, effective as of July 2019, for €12.7 million.[12] The deal consisted of a joint financial operation between Barcelona and fellow La Liga side Real Betis, in which each club paid half of the transfer fee and retained a percentage of Emerson's economic rights. He was to become a Betis player in July 2019, with Barcelona holding the option of reacquiring him for €6 million in 2021.[13] Emerson initially joined Betis on loan from Atlético for the remainder of the 2018–19 season, during which period he made seven appearances for the club.[14] He then became a regular starter for the Andalusians, and scored his first goal abroad on 27 September 2019, but in a 1–5 loss to Villarreal.[citation needed]
On 2 June 2021, Barcelona exercised their option to bring back Emerson for three seasons by paying Betis €9 million.[15][16]
On the final day of the 2021 summer transfer window, Tottenham signed Emerson on a five-year deal for a reported £25.8 million transfer fee.[17] His debut was in the Premier League away to Crystal Palace which Tottenham lost 3–0 on 11 September.[18] On 3 April 2022, he scored his first goal for Tottenham in a 5–1 home win against Newcastle United.[19]
Emerson was called up to the Brazil under-20 team for the 2017 Toulon Tournament.[20] He was the first-choice right-back at the 2019 South American U-20 Championship and the 2019 Toulon Tournament, having won the latter with Brazil's under-23 side.[citation needed]
Emerson made his senior international debut for Brazil on 19 November 2019, coming off the bench in a 3–0 victory over South Korea.[21]
On 11 June 2021, Emerson was called up by manager Tite for the 2021 Copa América.[22] He made his tournament debut on 17 June, playing the last six minutes in a 4–0 thrashing of Peru in Brazil's second group match. Ten days later, he was given his first start as he played the full match in a 1–1 draw in their final group stage match against Ecuador. On 10 July, he played in the final, after coming on in the 76th minute in their 0–1 defeat against Argentina.[23]
Club | Season | League | State League | National Cup[lower-alpha 1] | League Cup[lower-alpha 2] | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||||
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Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Ponte Preta | 2016 | Série A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
2017 | 3 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |||
2018 | Série B | 0 | 0 | 14[lower-alpha 3] | 1 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | |||
Total | 3 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 6 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 1 | |||
Atlético Mineiro | 2018 | Série A | 23 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 23 | 1 | |||||
Real Betis (loan) | 2018–19 | La Liga | 6 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1[lower-alpha 4] | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | |||
2019–20 | 33 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 34 | 3 | ||||||
2020–21 | 34 | 1 | — | 4 | 1 | — | — | — | 38 | 2 | ||||||
Total | 73 | 4 | — | 5 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 79 | 5 | |||||
Barcelona | 2021–22 | La Liga | 3 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
Tottenham Hotspur | 2021–22 | Premier League | 31 | 1 | — | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3[lower-alpha 5] | 0 | — | 41 | 1 | ||
2022–23 | 8 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[lower-alpha 6] | 0 | — | 11 | 0 | ||||
Total | 39 | 1 | — | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 52 | 1 | ||||
Career total | 141 | 6 | 16 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 182 | 7 |
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Brazil | 2019 | 1 | 0 |
2021 | 5 | 0 | |
2022 | 1 | 0 | |
Total | 7 | 0 |
Ponte Preta
Brazil U23
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – current squad | |
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Brazil squad – 2021 Copa América runners-up | ||
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a Léo Ortiz replaced Felipe after Brazil's fourth match. |