O Athletico Paranaense is about to announce the hiring of 26-year-old attacker Leozinho, who left the Italian after the conclusion of the 2024 Series B. The left-handed player usually acts in the right wing and has gained recognition in another sport. He was a multi-time football champion with Sorocaba and represented the Brazilian team. Leozinho was named the best sub-23 futsal player in the world in 2019 and 2020, receiving the nickname "Prince of Futsal".
Since leaving the futsal courts in 2022, Leozinho made the transition to field football, his first club being Hercílio Luz in 2023. He scored three goals in 22 matches (13 as holder) by the Santa Catarina team, competing in state championships, in the D Series of the Brazilian championship and in the Santa Catarina Cup — writing down all three goals during the D Series games.
Athletico has already confirmed the acquisitions of Winger Luiz Fernando (of Atlético-GO), the lateral-right Hayen Palacios (formerly the National Athletic-COL), the midfielder Raul (of Bragantino) and the defender Léo. Fifth reinforcement could be midfielder Falcon.
In the last season, Leozinho participated in 30 games (12 as holder) by Italian, scoring two goals and committing a penalty without assistance. He ranked 17th in the Sofascore ranking among the players of the São Paulo club, with an average of 6.77. The team's highlights were midfielder José Aldo (7.19) and Winger Thonny Anderson (7.09).
Playing in the right wing, Leozinho recorded an average high of 1.4 kicks per game for a player of his position. However, its accuracy was low, with only 0.3 of these attempts being on target per departure.
He demonstrated good accuracy in the 3rd defensive (90%) and 3rd offensive (70%) passes, although his average of decisive passes was low, with only 0.6 per game.
In addition, he exhibited a low average of successful dribbles to his position, achieving only 0.5 dribbles per match.
