Emerson, sixth Brazilian right back
Emerson Royal brings depth, speed and attacking strength down the right. This June, FC Barcelona have exercised their right to recover the player, who will be arriving from Betis on July 1 after two and half years in green and white. Born in Sao Paulo on 14 January 1999, he came to the Spanish Liga in 2019 as part of a joint deal between the Catalan and Andalusian clubs.
Emerson has progressed as footballer in this time, and Betis have generally fielded him at full back or as an explosive wing back, and he has impressed in both roles. His tactical and defensive awareness is also much better now that he has had time to adapt to Spanish football, and he is very much a diamond that’s ready to shine at FC Barcelona.
Something similar occurred with his compatriot Dani Alves, who also came to Catalonia via Andalusia (Sevilla in his case). He needed time to adapt to the Spanish game, and once he had he went on to win 23 titles and was regarded as the best full back in the world.
Emerson is the latest in a series of Brazilian full backs at Barça that began with Aloisio (1988-1990), a centre back that Johan Cruyff moved out wide. Then we had Belletti (2004-2007), the hero of the 2006 Champions League Final in Paris, the aforesaid Dani Alves (2008-2016) and also Adriano Correia (2010-2016), a left back who sometimes played on the right. Most recently, we had Douglas (2014-2017).
Most used player at Betis
Emerson has played 79 games for Betis in his two and a half years with the club, helping Manuel Pellegrini’s to sixth in the league and a berth in next year’s Europa League. He got the most playing time in the whole, squad, with Guido Rodríguez and Nabil Fekir second and third.
He has been the defender that’s given the fourth most assists in that time, ten, topped only by Jordi Alba (20), Jesús Navas (16) and Kieran Trippier (11). And he’s seventh for chances created, and he’s also scored five goals of his own.
