Rayan #26

Profile

In 2018 sports outlet Globo Esporte posted online about a youngster they’d spotted in Vasco da Gama’s youth system: “Take a note of this name, Vasco fans: Rayan, age 11, scored 115 goals in 2017.” Eight years later and Rayan has just arrived at his first World Cup on the back of a brilliant Premier League season with Bournemouth, and with the world at his feet. He moved to England in January for £24.7m from Vasco, where he had been since the age of six, having scored 20 goals in 57 games for Vasco in 2025. He hit the ground running in England, taking full advantage of the gap left behind at Bournemouth when Antoine Semenyo moved to Manchester City. He only made his Brazil debut in April, and his future looks immense. And he has it all planned out. “I see myself, in five years, playing in Europe, for Bournemouth or another team that signs me,” he said in March. “In five years, I hope to play for the most powerful team in the world."

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