Southeast Asia Indonesia

From Chelsea Target to Madura United’s Main Man – The Story of Lulinha

The date was November 2007. Premier League giants Chelsea had just parted ways with Jose Mourinho and are seeking to bring in a number of fresh faces in an attempt to establish a more attractive footballing philosophy, a departure from Mourinho’s usual pragmatic style. Chelsea’s scouts went everywhere in search of talent and one such scout came across a Brazilian wonderkid by the name of Lulinha, earmarking the then 17-year old as the “New Ronaldinho.” Sadly no move was materialized but it kicked-off a remarkable journey that took Lulinha from the Corinthians academy to the Gelora Ratu Pamelingan Stadium in Pamekasan, a city in the island of Madura in Indonesia.

When Lulinha arrived at Madura United in the 2022/23 off-season, he had just finished an unremarkable year in the Japanese football pyramid. The Brazilian had played for J.League 2 side Jubilo Iwata in the 2020 season, turning out 26 times and scoring five times for the Shizuoka Prefecture-based side, before moving to fellow J2 outfit Montedio Yamagata for the 2020/21 season, playing ten times and scoring none.

At that time, nobody would’ve thought that Lulinha had attracted the attention of Roman Abramovich all those years ago.

Lulinha was quite anonymous in the 2022 Piala Presiden pre-season tournament, but once the 2022/23 Liga 1 Indonesia season rolls around, he showed flashes of brilliance that made him a hot target for European clubs back in the late 2000s.

With Madura United taking on PS Barito Putera in the season opener, Lulinha ripped apart the Laskar Antasari defenses as if they were made of paper, scoring a hat-trick as Madura United ran out 8-0 winners. But he wasn’t done just yet.

Against Persib Bandung – last season’s runners-up and a huge step-up compared to Barito – Lulinha put the Maung Bandung defense to the sword, scoring a 60th minute equalizer that helped Madura United to a 3-1 win away at the Gelora Bandung Lautan Api.

After a brief blank spell in Madura United’s 1-0 win over Persik Kediri, Lulinha once again wrote his name in the scoresheet in the Suramadu Derby against Persebaya Surabaya, scoring the opener after just 7 minutes in the 2-2 draw.

His latest victim would be Dewa United, the Tangsel Warriors powerless to stop Lulinha as he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for Madura United last Friday.

While Lulinha is enjoying life in the Liga 1, his story remains a huge “what could’ve been” tale that saw Lulinha draw interest from not only Chelsea, but also Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur among others, only for him to end up going from club-to-club within Brazil and Portugal before adventuring beyond the two countries to South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Japan, and Indonesia.

His huge wealth of talent made him a massive “must buy” player for both Football Manager and FIFA players, but in reality Lulinha’s decision to turn down Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Tottenham in favor of proving himself in Brazilian soil meant that he was unable to realize his huge potential in the promised land that is Europe.

Back in 2007, Lulinha had just guided Brazil into winning that year’s South American U-17 Championship, scoring 12 goals as he bagged himself the top scorer award in the competition. This superb performance led to the Brazilian public unanimously agreeing that Lulinha is the heir to the sacred number 10 shirt in the Brazil senior national team, a role that has been held by legendary figures such as Pele, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho, with the likes of Kaka and Neymar going on to assume this sacred role in the future.

With Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Tottenham circling above him, Corinthians decided to safeguard Lulinha by strapping him to a long-term contract worth £24 million. As Lulinha was 17 years old at that time, he decided to stay in Brazil to further hone his skills and mature himself as a player, a decision that sadly would backfire in the long run as Lulinha was unable to compete with the other young talents rising up from within the Corinthians academy.

Two years after Lulinha had turned down the giants of European football, he finally step foot on the continent after Corinthians had loaned him out to Estoril Praia in the Portuguese second tier. This started off the first of two disappointing spells in Portugal, with another Portuguese side, top-flight Olhanense, taking Lulinha in for the 2010/11 season.

A series of moves within Brazil then ensued, with Lulinha turning out for clubs such as Bahia, Mogi Mirim, Ceara, Botafogo, and Red Bull Brazil, before he was snapped up by Pohang Steelers of South Korea in 2016.

After scoring 19 goals in 51 games for the Steelers, Lulinha spent a brief spell in the UAE with Sharjah, before serving Cypriot side Pafos FC between 2018 and 2019. Lulinha then moved to Jubilo in 2020 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Football fans around the world has considered Lulinha a failed wonderkid, a wasted product, a unfulfilled potential. But with Madura United, where he is the main man, Lulinha is part of a side that’s gunning for their first-ever Liga 1 title after a red-hot start to the season – unbeaten in five games with four wins and a draw to their name. The season’s still long, but Lulinha’s definitely enjoying life in Madura.