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.

Emerson Royal

Personal information
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 Men's Football Representing  Brazil Copa América Runner-up 2021 Brazil
*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

Early life

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]

Club career

Ponte Preta

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]

Atlético Mineiro

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]}

Real Betis and Barcelona

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]

Tottenham Hotspur

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]

International career

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]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 4 October 2022[24]

International

As of match played 27 January 2022[25]

Honours

Ponte Preta

• Campeonato Paulista do Interior: 2018^{[citation needed]}

Brazil U23

• Toulon Tournament: 2019[26]

References

External links

• Emerson Royal at BDFutbol

На других языках

[de] Emerson Royal

[es] Emerson Royal

[fr] Emerson (football, 1999)

[it] Emerson Royal

[ru] Лейте ди Соуза Жуниор, Эмерсон