Danilo (footballer, born 1991)

Danilo (full name Danilo Luiz da Silva; born 1991 in Bicas, Minas Gerais) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a right-back or center-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo and the Brazil national team, of which he has been captain.^{1 • 2} Across a career that has run from América-MG through Santos, Porto, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Juventus to Flamengo, he has won league titles in every country he played in during 13 years in Europe: Portugal, Spain, England, and Italy.^{1 • 3} He is known for positional versatility, having played four positions in five and a half years at Juventus alone, and for leadership, serving as Juventus captain and as Brazil captain under Dorival Júnior.^{4 • 5}

Early career: América-MG and Santos

Danilo came through the youth set-up of América Futebol Clube in Minas Gerais and debuted as a professional in 2009, before moving to Santos for the 2010–11 period.^{11 • 1} At Santos, alongside Neymar, he won the 2011 Campeonato Paulista and then the 2011 Copa Libertadores, in which he scored the goal that won the title.^{2 • 12} In those same years he won the FIFA U-20 World Cup (2011) and a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, and he had already debuted for the senior Brazil side on 14 September 2011 in a 0–0 draw against Argentina.^{11 • 9}

European career: Porto, Real Madrid, Manchester City

Porto. In early January 2012, following the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup, Danilo signed for Porto on a contract to June 2016 after a €13 million transfer fee, with a €50 million release clause, and won back-to-back Primeira Liga titles (2012 and 2013) alongside his compatriot Alex Sandro.¹² The footballdatabase record gives his Porto totals as 141 matches and 13 goals.⁶

Real Madrid. Madrid paid 31.5 million euros for him in 2015 (Transfermarkt records the fee as €25.00 million).^{6 • 7} Dani Carvajal won the battle for the right-back place, so Danilo became Marcelo's backup on the left, leaving after 56 games, three goals, and nine assists.¹² He still collected two Champions League titles (2016, 2017), a La Liga crown (2017), a European Super Cup, and a Club World Cup.^{11 • 12}

Manchester City. City paid 30 million euros in July 2017 but gave him limited minutes, using him everywhere along the backline as well as further upfield.¹² In two seasons he recorded four goals and four assists and won two Premier Leagues, one FA Cup, two EFL Cups, and two Community Shields; among Brazilian defenders only Dani Alves (66 appearances) and Marcelo (62) had more Champions League appearances than his 39.¹¹ By August 2019 his professional trophy count stood at 18.¹²

Juventus (2019–2025)

Juventus signed Danilo from Manchester City on 7 August 2019 for €37 million payable over three financial years, on a five-year contract, in a part-exchange that sent João Cancelo to City.¹¹ He made a scoring debut against Napoli on 31 August 2019, scoring less than 30 seconds after coming on, one of the fastest goals in the club's history.^{8 • 4}

From full-back to center-back. In five and a half years he played four positions: right-back, left-back, defensive midfielder, and center-back.⁴ Under Andrea Pirlo in 2020/21 he was the club's most-used player, with 34 matches and 2,851 minutes by March 2021, appearing as center-back, on both flanks, and in midfield, which allowed Pirlo to change systems during matches.¹³ Pirlo first used him as the third center-back in a back three alongside Bonucci and Chiellini, a role he had already filled with Santos in Brazil.¹⁴ When Massimiliano Allegri took over, he became a genuine first-choice center-back alongside Bremer; across his three Allegri seasons he made 119 appearances, averaging 39 per season and peaking at 54 in 2022/23, with six goals and nine assists.^{4 • 15}

Captaincy and exit. After Leonardo Bonucci's departure, Danilo was appointed captain for the 2023–24 season. The Athletic describes him as the club's first non-Italian captain in six decades, since Omar Sívori in 1965; Globo Esporte calls him the first foreign-born captain, noting that Sívori and Monti were naturalized Italians.^{5 • 4} He lifted the Coppa Italia as captain after the 1–0 final win over Atalanta in Rome in May 2024.¹⁶ In 2024 he played 37 of Juventus's 50 official matches, but under Thiago Motta he featured in only one of the club's last 11 matches and was left out of the squad in eight.⁴ His contract was terminated by mutual consent on 27 January 2025, ahead of its June expiry, after 213 appearances, nine goals, one Scudetto, one Italian Super Cup, and two Italian Cups; his last match had been against Venezia on 14 December 2024.^{8 • 17}

Return to Brazil: Flamengo (2025–)

Flamengo announced his signing on 29 January 2025 on a contract until the end of 2026, with the exit from Juventus structured as a cost-free release; he took shirt number 13 and was expected to play as a center-back.^{1 • 18 • 19} On 29 November 2025 in Lima he scored the decisive goal in a 1–0 victory over Palmeiras to claim the 2025 Copa Libertadores, Flamengo's fourth title in the competition, and on 13 December he scored in a 2–0 Club World Cup win over Pyramids FC.²

International career

Danilo debuted for Brazil on 14 September 2011 in a 0–0 draw against Argentina and scored his first international goal on 19 November 2019 in a 3–0 friendly win over South Korea.^{9 • 16} He represented Brazil at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and at Copa América 2021 and 2024, and was named national team captain under Dorival Júnior at Copa América 2024.^{2 • 16} Cap totals vary across databases: 65 at the time of his Juventus exit per The Athletic, 67 per myjuve.it, and 68 per footballdatabase.^{5 • 9 • 6} During preparation for the 2026 World Cup, he wore the captain's armband in several matches and was called up for his third World Cup; he was valued for versatility, regularity, and leadership.^{20 • 21}

Style of play

Danilo's positional record shows the shift in his role over time: 288 career appearances at right-back, 110 at center-back, 49 at left-back, and 11 in defensive midfield.¹⁰ Analysts describe a defender who distributes centrally rather than making deep flank runs: in a 2019/20 Champions League match against Atlético Madrid, playing left-back, he achieved 95% passing accuracy while staying near the midfield line to aid possession retention, and he averaged 89.9% passing accuracy per 90 minutes that season.²² Defensively he won 65.6% of his duels and about half of his aerial duels, which the analyst judged made him a better defensive option than João Cancelo.²² Opta-based per-90 figures for his later career show 89.2% pass completion, 77.20 passes attempted, 5.48 progressive passes, 2.33 tackles, 1.33 interceptions, 3.32 clearances, and 1.75 aerials won per 90, with minimal attacking output (0.00 non-penalty goals, 0.08 assists per 90).²³ WhoScored registers him as a defender on the center, left, and right plus defensive midfielder, with a style favoring short passes.²⁴ Danilo credits Pep Guardiola with educating him tactically, saying Guardiola "makes all players think about football in the same way," and he has described Pirlo's approach as very similar, both thinking about football through occupation of spaces.^{3 • 13}

Injuries

Two tournament injuries stand out. Later setbacks included a hamstring injury from 14 October to 29 November 2023 (46 days), an ankle injury from 18 February to 2 March 2024 (13 days), and a further hamstring injury from 6 May 2024.²⁵

By the numbers

Transfermarkt records career transfer fees of €112.40m; the listed fees are €13m (Santos to Porto, 2011/12), €31.5m (Porto to Real Madrid, 2015, per footballdatabase; Transfermarkt records €25.00m), €30m (Real Madrid to City, 2017), €37m (City to Juventus, 2019), and a free transfer to Flamengo in 2025, when his market value stood at €4.00m.^{6 • 7} Club totals per footballdatabase are Santos 78 matches/10 goals, Porto 141/13, Real Madrid 56/3, Manchester City 60/4, Juventus 213/9, and Flamengo 47/5 as of the database date.⁶ A career aggregate through 2023 gives 38 goals and 27 assists in 504 games for Santos, Porto, Real Madrid, City, and Juventus.²⁶ His Juventus league appearances by season were 22 (2019/20), 34 (2020/21), 22 (2021/22), 37 (2022/23), 29 (2023/24), and 12 (2024/25 to 27 January 2025).⁹

Honours

Santos: Campeonato Paulista 2011; Copa Libertadores 2011.¹² Porto: Primeira Liga 2011–12 and 2012–13; two Portuguese supercups.^{12 • 16} Real Madrid: La Liga 2016–17; UEFA Champions League 2015–16 and 2016–17; UEFA Super Cup 2016; FIFA Club World Cup 2016.¹¹ Manchester City: Premier League 2017–18 and 2018–19; FA Cup 2019; EFL Cup 2018 and 2019; Community Shield 2018 and 2019.¹¹ Juventus: Serie A 2019–20; Supercoppa Italiana 2020; Coppa Italia 2020–21 and 2023–24.⁴ Brazil: FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011; South American U-20 championship; Olympic silver, London 2012.^{11 • 16}

References

1. Bem-vindo, Danilo! – Flamengo official announcement
2. Danilo – Player Profile, TheSportsDB
3. 'I was brainwashed … but in a good way': Danilo on Guardiola, Flamengo and social media – The Guardian
4. Como foi a passagem de Danilo na Juventus? – Globo Esporte
5. Juventus captain Danilo leaves club by mutual consent – The Athletic / The New York Times
6. Danilo – Stats and titles won, footballdatabase.eu
7. Danilo – Transfer history, Transfermarkt
8. Danilo and Juventus part ways – Juventus official
9. Profile Player Danilo da Silva – MyJuve
10. Danilo – performance data, Transfermarkt
11. Official⎮Danilo is Bianconero! – Juventus official
12. The incredible case of Danilo: From champion to champion without being a key player – MARCA
13. Danilo: "En la Juventus he encontrado la continuidad necesaria" – MARCA
14. Juventus, Danilo il giocatore più usato da Pirlo – La Gazzetta dello Sport
15. Lateral ou zagueiro? Entenda como Danilo atuava na Juventus – O Globo
16. Non solo Juventus... che palmares per Danilo – TuttoMercatoWeb
17. Juve and Danilo mutually part ways after more than five years – Reuters
18. Danilo decide voltar ao Brasil – Globo Esporte
19. Flamengo anuncia contratação de Danilo – ESPN Brasil
20. Danilo (Player) – National Football Teams
21. Quem é Danilo, defensor que virou referência da Seleção Brasileira na Copa 2026 – Exame
22. Danilo 2019/20 – scout report, Total Football Analysis
23. Danilo Stats – FBref
24. Danilo Football Statistics – WhoScored
25. Danilo Luiz da Silva – Injury History, Transferhunt
26. Danilo – StatsCrew

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026

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