GETTING A BRAZILIAN

Wesley is the latest Selecao striker to try his hand in the Premier League – but it’s not all been Samba fun

JULIO BAPTISTA

Baptista traded Real Madrid for Arsenal in a 2006 deadline-day loan swap with Jose Antonio Reyes, having previously shone with Sevilla. He found Premier League life harder, hitting three goals in 24 games, but Gooners will never forget his four-goal League Cup haul at Liverpool.

AFONSO ALVES

Alves became Middlesbrough’s record signing for £13m back in January 2008, after netting 45 goals in 39 Eredivisie games for Heerenveen. He hit two against Manchester United and three against City in an 8-1 drubbing, but struck six in the entirety of 2008-09 as Boro went down.

JO

Man City’s record signing didn’t live up to the hype. Forty-four goals in 77 matches for CSKA Moscow led to his £19m move in 2012, but Jo’s strike rate at Eastlands was one in seven. An initially promising Everton loan move soured when David Moyes suspended him for going AWOL.

ROBERTO FIRMINO

Firmino was the most expensive departure in Bundesliga history when Liverpool shelled out an initial £22m to Hoffenheim in 2015. He showed mere flashes of brilliance in his first season at Anfield, but has since reached astonishing levels as part of the Reds’ devastating front three.

GABRIEL JESUS

The forward always looked like a bargain at £27m, arriving as the hottest property in Brazilian football when City snared him in August 2016. He stayed on loan at Palmeiras until January 2017, helping them win a first title since 1994, before hitting the ground running in England.