Felipe Melo

Felipe Melo de Carvalho (born 26 June 1983), known as Felipe Melo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for Fluminense.

Following impressive performances with Flamengo, Melo transferred to Cruzeiro in the summer of 2003, but would remain for just one season.

In his single season with Cruzeiro, Melo managed to make 31 league appearances, scoring two goals.

Following yet another impressive season in Brazil, he was sold to Grêmio.

Following his transfer to Grêmio, Melo managed to make an additional 19 appearances and adding three goals to his tally in his native Brazil.

He would only remain in Porto Alegre for 2004, because Grêmio was relegated that year and the team was dismantled.

He began his career with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A teams Flamengo, Cruzeiro and Grêmio, before moving to Spain in 2005, where he represented Mallorca, Racing Santander and Almería in La Liga.

In January 2005, Felipe Melo moved abroad for the first time, joining Spanish La Liga club Mallorca, who released Andrija Delibašić to give him a place.

He played only eight times for the Balearic team, his season ending through knee ligament injury against Valencia in March; they narrowly avoided relegation.

Ahead of the 2005–06 season, Melo moved to fellow league team Racing de Santander.

He scored his first goal for them on 21 December, in a 2–1 win away to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.

On 3 July 2007, Felipe Melo became Almería's first signing ahead of their debut top-flight season.

The transfer, which involved buying some of his rights from a third-party owner, was the most expensive in the club's history.

He was a regular in midfield for Unai Emery's team, contributing seven goals as the Andalusians finished 8th.

Having held Spanish nationality since the 2007–08 season, he was not counted as a non-EU player in the Italian Serie A.

He made his debut in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League against Slavia Prague, and scored his first goal in a Viola shirt against Atalanta in the Serie A. After a very impressive debut season in the Serie A, which included 29 appearances and two goals, the Brazilian transferred to Juventus in Turin.

After a successful first season at Almería, Felipe Melo agreed to transfer to Italian side Fiorentina in a reported €13 million transfer for the 2008–09 season.

After one year at Fiorentina, he signed for Juventus for €25 million in 2009.

Felipe Melo spent four seasons at Galatasaray, playing 154 total games and winning eight honours, including three Süper Lig titles.

Felipe Melo was a Brazilian international from 2009 to 2010, earning 22 caps and scoring two goals.

He was part of their squads that won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Felipe Melo began his career for Flamengo, where he made 69 appearances and scored no goals in his two-season spell with the club.

On 30 June 2009, following a lauded performance with Brazil at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, Felipe Melo signed a new five-year contract with Fiorentina, with a release clause of €25 million.

At this point, Arsenal was reportedly in negotiations to sign the player.

Within days, however, Melo was the subject of a bid from Juventus.

The two rival clubs eventually agreed a fee of €25 million in total and Juve's Marco Marchionni joined Fiorentina on 15 July 2009 for a tagged price of €4.5 million.

Later, Cristiano Zanetti, tagged for €2 million, re-joined Fiorentina.

This allowed Juve to pay Fiorentina €18.5 million in three instalments.

The first half of the 2009–10 season was one to forget despite a bright start to his Juve career.

He scored his first Juve goal against top-of-the-table rivals Roma in a 3–1 win.

In the December Derby d'Italia fixture at home, he was controversially sent off for a supposed elbow at Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli.

The incident sparked a fiery argument between his teammate Gianluigi Buffon and Inter midfielder Thiago Motta, and both had to be separated by Inter and Juve players.

Due to his poor performances throughout the season, he won the Bidone d'Oro Award in 2009, which was given to the worst Serie A player during a particular season.

Melo was instrumental in his side's win over A.C. Milan at the San Siro in the 2010–11 season, and was later voted man of the match.

On 22 July 2011, Felipe Melo joined Galatasaray in Turkey on a season-long loan deal for €1.5 million, with an option to transfer permanently at the end of the season for €13 million.

He agreed on a contract with a net annual salary of €3.3 million plus a per-appearance bonus of €30,000, replacing departed Lorik Cana as the club's new central midfielder.

He was attributed to the nickname "Pitbull" by the team supporters because of his passionate playing style, which also helped him become a fans favourite quickly; it is said that he displayed the mutual respect back with his tattoo of the club's mascot, a lion, on his arm.

This is not true, however, because in his own statement, he states that this is a coincidence and that he got the tattoo due to the fact that in Brazil, a lion is a symbol for Jesus Christ.

After a spell back in Serie A with Inter Milan, he returned to Brazil in 2017 by signing for Palmeiras.

He won the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 2018 and the Copa Libertadores in 2020 and 2021 with Palmeiras, before joining Fluminense where he won the latter again in 2023.