Wolves have completed the deadline day signing of Brazilian midfielder Andre from Fluminense.
The 23-year-old becomes the club’s fourth Brazilian and follows a similar path to Joao Gomes and Pedro Lima in moving directly from their home nation to Wolves and the Premier League.
A physical defensive midfielder, who relishes a tackle, Andre began his journey with Fluminense at the age of 12 and, having progressed through the system, made his senior debut seven years later.
The following season, which ran through the calendar year of 2021, Andre announced himself in senior football, establishing himself as a regular and bagging a first career goal – a last-gasp winner at local rivals Flamengo, for whom Joao Gomes featured.
By 2023 he was appearing in a Copa Libertadores final – the South American Champions League – where Fluminense lifted the trophy for the first time at the expense of Boca Juniors, which led to a Club World Cup appearance against Manchester City.
Following that success Andre and Fluminense won the Recopa Sudamericana – the South American Super Cup – to sit alongside two Taca Guanabara titles and two Campeonato Carioca successes, meaning the midfielder leaves Brazil with six honours to his name.
A new Brazilian in town 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/EKwrRmIn6C
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 30, 2024
Success with Fluminense naturally led to Brazil caps – the first of his five to date arriving against Senegal in 2023, although injury denied him a place in their Copa America squad during the summer.
Andre leaves Fluminense with 197 appearances to his name – the most recent coming in a 2-0 win over Clube Atletico Mineiro on Sunday, meaning he arrives at Molineux match fit and ready to go.
Sporting director Matt Hobbs said: “It feels like a long time in the making. He’s got the same agent as Joao Gomes and is a player we talked about when we did Joao. We hadn't been in a financial position in other windows to do it, when we were interested. It’s one that I thought we were going to miss out on, so I'm unbelievably excited to have him come and join us.
“He works hard, wins his tackles and picks up second balls. He’s physically good and we think he’ll thrive in the Premier League, similar to how Joao has. Our midfield now feels like a real strength of ours.
“I want the fans to be excited about it, but remember when Joao came across, he had six months to sit under Mario and Ruben and get used to the country and the Premier League with minutes off the bench. We've got to give players the time to settle.
“You can never have enough players that have won trophies. But it's a player that we're picking on the way up, he's not coming to having won his trophies on the way down. He's won trophies at a young age and he's still on his way up and still wants to learn and grow and commit and be part of the project.”
