Yaya Toure and Botafogo: a soap opera story that reveals much about Brazilian football's jumbled priorities

“Botafogo is no place for cowards,” said Ricardo Rotenberg, pointedly.

The flirtation between the club and Yaya Touré lasted three months, but that was the end of it. Touré had pledged his future to Vasco da Gama, then turned his back on them, too.

But the most interesting part of this twisted novela was not what it says about Touré's career choices, but what it says about the Brazilian game. (Spoiler: nothing good.)

Read my piece on the affair on The Athletic. 

Wellington Silva interview: Where it went wrong for Arsenal's best-ever Brazilian triallist

Those who work regularly at the Arsenal training ground see many young prospects come and go but few stick in the memory quite like Wellington Silva

Even after his first few training sessions, word began to spread through the club about the boy from Rio with the big smile and the silken touch. "He was, quite simply, the best triallist we’d ever seen," says one insider from that time.

But Wellington never appeared for the Arsenal first team. Arsenal did sign him permanently but work permit problems meant him spending several seasons out on loan, drastically impeding his development. “I have good memories I will always carry with me,” Wellington reflects. “Unfortunately, things didn’t quite turn out as I hoped.”

Read my interview with Wellington Silva – written up with the excellent Arsenal correspondent James McNicholas – on The Athletic.

Who should play up front for Brazil?

"He's the new Ronaldo," purred Daniel Alves. "He is going to be one of the greats."

High praise indeed, but Gabriel Jesus deserved it. For the first two years of Tite's Brazil stewardship, he looked the striker Brazil had been seeking for a decade.

Cut to 2020 and the picture is slightly less clear. Jesus, after some ups and downs, remains an important player, as well as a symbol of the Tite era. Yet he now has significant competition for the central striking berth, much of it from the same small patch of north-west England.

For now, Roberto Firmino is the incumbent, having ousted Jesus after the World Cup and impressed as Brazil won the Copa America last summer. Then there is Richarlison, who played up front for his country before doing so at Everton, and who is viewed by Tite as the most direct, physical option.

There are other alternatives – there is a growing lobby for Flamengo's Gabriel Barbosa, for instance – but the battle to lead the line for the Selecao at the next World Cup looks likely to have a distinct Premier League flavour.

Read the rest of this piece on The Athletic.

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Whatever happened to Adryan?

As a teenager, he was compared to Zico and tipped for superstardom.

But now, aged 25, former Flamengo forward Adryan finds himself at a rather lower altitude. After an up-and-down jaunt around Europe, he is back in Brazil – not at one of the country's big clubs, but in the second division.

What went wrong for him? Was it a question of talent or attitude? And did that 'new Zico' tag weigh heavily on his young shoulders?

Answers to those questions on more in a piece with Leeds United correspondent Phil Hay for The Athletic. Read it here. 

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'A bit weird' but great fun: when Brazil played Barcelona

April 28, 1999, at Camp Nou: Barcelona vs Brazil.

Blaugrana vs Canarinha. Figo, Guardiola and Kluivert vs Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Romário. Catalans vs samba fans, plus a thousand other woozy stereotypes.

It was, in the words of Bolo Zenden, who played for Barcelona that night, “a bit weird”. It was also rather wonderful.

Read my piece about the game, which features interviews with Zenden and former Brazil forward Márcio Amoroso, on The Athletic. 

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Denílson interview: 'Gilberto Silva used to invite me over, but I just stayed at home. Alone, watching Prison Break'

As soon as he arrived at Arsenal in 2006, Denílson looked like a future star. This, it was hoped, might be a natural long-term midfield partner for Cesc Fabregas.

For all his promise, however, Denilson never felt comfortable in England. He was homesick, for a start, but it was more than that.

He felt all alone, separated from his new team-mates by age and culture, and from his support network by the Atlantic Ocean. It was a crushing, unshakeable loneliness that eventually undermined his Arsenal career.

I interviewed Denílson, who opened up on his difficulties in England. Read it on The Athletic. 

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The end of Chelsea's Brazilian era?

“At that time it was rare to see Brazilian players in the Premier League," says Juliano Belletti.

“When I found out that Chelsea were interested in me, I knew that it was a big opportunity. And it was incredible. The club, the fans, the city… they were great times.

"We went out together as a group sometimes and had family meals at each others’ houses. There was real friendship between us."

Belletti was not the only Brazilian to find a home at Chelsea, but with Willian set to leave this summer it now looks like the end of an era. I take a look at the trend with my colleagues at The Athletic, Liam Twomey and Simon Johnson, here.