Vitor Reis: Who is new Manchester City defender? 
2025-01-21
Category: sports

Rival fans used to mock Palmeiras' academy, singing that they had never won the Copa Sao Paulo, Brazil's premier youth competition.Those times are long gone.Not only have Palmeiras won the 'Copinha', as the tournament is affectionately known, twice (2022 and 2023), but they have also established themselves as the hottest talent factory in Brazilian football.Over the past few years, the Sao Paulo-based giants have produced and sold stars such as Chelsea-bound Estevao Willian (Â£29m), Real Madrid's Endrick (Â£28.5m), West Ham's Luiz Guilherme (Â£25.5m), Nottingham Forest's Danilo (Â£16m), and Shakhtar Donetsk's Kevin (Â£8m, all fees including add-ons).They have all helped Palmeiras cement their status as the most successful Brazilian team of the past decade while generating massive revenue.And the next one to come out of their prolific factory is Vitor Reis, who has signed for Manchester City in a Â£29.6m deal.Palmeiras had hoped for the 19-year-old to stay until this summer's Club World Cup, but City insisted on bringing him in immediately.City's incoming director of football, Hugo Viana, played a key role in this deal, making a call to Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira, who is also Portuguese and a great friend of his, to find out more about Reis.Despite making only 22 appearances for Palmeiras since his senior debut in June, he is ready for the Premier League, City believe.It comes as no surprise to the Brazilians.He's been described within the club as an "ET" - players they consider to be out of this world and way better than the others."Last year, the players from the 'Copinha' who broke into the first team were Estevao and Vitor Reis. But don't ask me for those ETs again this season, all right? Now we get the normal ones," Palmeiras' head of academy Joao Paulo Sampaio joked when asked earlier this month about the next ones in line.Such is Reis' composure on the pitch that a pundit from the local network SporTV said this week that he seems to have "60 years of experience in football"."I believe he will have no trouble adapting to the City system because here in the youth teams he was always exposed to playing under risk, having to be involved in the build-up play while also defending efficiently, even in one-on-one situations," Palmeiras' under-20 coach Lucas Andrade told BBC Sport."City work with small squads, so he could gain minutes and be very useful in the season right from the start due to all the maturity and readiness he has to play."
'The comparison with Ruben Dias is inevitable'
After life-changing transfers such as these, it's easy to forget the obstacles players have had to overcome to get there.And even though he doesn't come from a particularly humble background, Reis made his share of sacrifices."He used to come every day from his hometown of Sao Jose dos Campos to the youth training centre in Guarulhos [on the outskirts of Sao Paulo] to train from the under-11 to the under-15 levels," recalled Sampaio, the man behind Palmeiras' academy revolution and one of the most sought-after executives in Brazilian football."So, every day, his parents would drive him 200 kilometres, never missing a single training [session]. When he left, it was already late, so he would do his school homework in the car to study in the morning and train again in the afternoon. He did that until moving to the club dormitory."Reis understandably doesn't miss those days."The trickiest part was the return journey because I was tired and there was also more traffic due to the rush hour, you know? It was like that until I was 15," he told the club podcast.But it helped shape the defender into a leader."Mentally, Vitor is a very stable player. For most of his time in youth football, he was captain, and in the professional team, he took on a leading role in a very short time," Andrade said."I think the comparison with Ruben Dias is inevitable here, given the characteristics, the type of player, and also the abilities. We hope he follows the same path."
'The kid is complete'
Handling the pressure at City will not be an issue for Reis.He has been used to it since an early age, having won the final of the under-11 Sao Paulo State Championship in front of more than 20,000 fans.Reis went on to captain Brazil at the 2023 Under-17 World Cup - and the following year, in his first professional start, he scored for Palmeiras against their main rivals Corinthians.Real Madrid, Arsenal and Brighton had him on their radar. A move to Europe has been on the cards for a while."In terms of quality, he has it all, man," Sampaio said."Technique, speed, courage, you name it. Tactically, he's a leader, understands the game like few others. And his mental strength is a joke. The kid is complete."Reis will now form part of a reshaping of Pep Guardiola's squad that includes new signing from Lens, Lens centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov, while talks are continuing with Eintracht Frankfurt over a deal for striker Omar Marmoush.