Birthday Boys- Rafael Leao and Juan Jesus

In today’s edition of the Birthday Boys we induldge into the careers of Portuguese youngster Rafael Leao and Roma veteran centre-back Juan Jesus.

Rafael Leao

The Portuguese striker turns 21 today and has had a decent start to his career in Europe.

Making his way through the youth ranks at Sporting, Leao got his breakthrough in February 2018 as he signed his professional contract for the Liga NOS side.

In the few months that he got before the end of the season, the striker would appear five times for the senior team scoring two goals and assisting once.

In the summer of 2018, he would be on the move to France as LOSC Lille bought the youngster on a free transfer from Sporting.

The 2018/19 campaign saw Leao feature in 26 games for Lille in all competitions as he managed to score eight goals and assist two goals.

A £20 million signing for AC Milan in August 2019 saw him move to Italy only after one year in France. 22 appearances for the Italian club only managing two goals and two assists as he tried to get used to Serie A football.

He is yet to make his first team debut for the Portuguese national team but has featured at almost every youth level from Under-16 to Under-21.

The only club trophy that he has managed to get his hands on is the Portuguese League Cup back in the 2017/18 season with Sporting.

Juan Jesus

The Brazillian defender turns 29 today.

In January 2010, he signed his professional contract for Internacional after progressing through the youth ranks and reaching the senior team after stepping up from the B team.

Eight appearances in the second-half of the 2010/11 campaign gave the defender some flavour of what may be expected of him. The 2011/12 campaign saw the centre-back feature 18 times before he was scouted by a European giant.

Inter Milan were the ones after Jesus’ signature and they got their man in January 2012 for £3 million. He would only make a single short appearance for Inter that season.

In the next four seasons at Inter, Jesus would feature 141 times for the Serie A giants managing to score one goal and three assists.

In the summer of 2016, Roma signed the Brazillian defender on loan from Inter as the defender featured 33 times for the club before signing him permanently the following summer.

He’s spent three seasons since that loan spell at his current club and has gone onto make 57 appearances since the 2016/17 campaign and has seen limited gametime due to Roma having better options in the centre-back department.

He has only made four appearances for the Brazillian national team since May 2012 and that is again due to Brazil having many great defenders in their arsenal.

The only two trophies that he has won have been with Internacional which were the Recopa Sudamericana in the 2010/11 season and the Copa Libertadores in the 2009/10 season.