Matheus Dória Macedo

Date of Birth	Nationality	Current Club	Position	Strengths		Weaknesses	Transfer Rumours	Market Value (where applicable)	Similar Players
				Physical	Technical
8/11/1994	Brazil	Botafogo	CB/LB	Speed, Strength, Aerial	Positioning,Tackling, Ball Technique	-	Chelsea, Man City, Juventus,Barca	5-10 M Euros	D.Luiz, T.Silva

Matheus Dória Macedo, or Dória as he is better known as, is an 18-year-old Brazilian defender who plays in the Brazilian League for Botagofo. Dória joined Botafogo in 2004 when he was only 10 years old, and has since gone on to make numerous appearances for the club at the youth levels. He finally broke into the first team during the 2012 season at the age of 17 and has slowly begun to cement his place as their first choice CB. His first match was against Coritiba on May 27^th 2012 and since then he has convinced the Manager of his worth and value as a first team player. During the later months in the season he slowly began to cement his place in the starting line up eventually becoming first choice CB. At a national level, following his performances for Botafogo he was called up for the Brazil U-20 side in the South American Youth Championships where he was a standout performer for a team that had a poor tournament overall. In April of this year he was called up by Brazil coach Scolari for their friendly against Bolivia and was given 5 minutes towards the end of the game.

Dória is a left footed player whose main position is CB but he can also play LB. He is an extremely athletic and hardworking player who possesses great speed and strength. He is very comfortable on the ball and is not afraid of carrying the ball out of defence into the midfield. At 6 feet 2 inches, Doria is extremely tall and it works to his advantage during aerial duels. He is a very naturally gifted footballer, and has very good technique on the ball that allows him to make forward runs from defence, and even on occasion pick out a long pass for an attacker. Due to his athleticism and pace, it makes him a very deadly defender for attackers to worry about. He is a very focused player, and when it comes to defence he does not often make many mistakes. He is a player who likes to keep his feet on the ground and not make many reckless challenges. He reads the game very well and is not often caught out of position or caught losing his man. With his commanding physical presence on the pitch he makes it very hard for attackers to get past him. Standing his ground in defence he invites the player to try and beat him with skill and on most occasions he is able to come out on top. He is also a threat in attacking set piece situations due to his height and wins several headers both offensively and defensively. He has scored three goals for his club. I have likened him to both Thiago Silva and David Luiz due to similar styles of play, however his skills and abilities have not been refined enough to put him at a similar level as his two compatriots. The reason I have likened him to both these players is due to his ability to use his physical presence and combine it well with his technical attributes during a game. Growing up playing futsal in Rio has helped Dória with his technical attributes and has made him very sound with the ball at his feet. He was close to moving to Juventus in January with the two clubs failing to agree on a fee for the player. More recently he has been linked with both Barcelona and Chelsea, with reports claiming Chelsea have lodged a £8m bid for the player.

I am not sure whether he should move or not as it is important for him to be getting first team football, and he is almost insured that at Botafogo. But having said that, he is already capable of making that move to a European club, and at the age of 18 that is impressive for any player. Dória is a player who is very mature player who has his head on his shoulders and is very focused. Another Brazilian to watch out for, and I am certain he will represent the National Team on a permanent basis in the near future.