Arsene Wenger once said that he didn’t want to ‘kill’ Denilson by buying a proper midfielder, but the king of the sideways pass never made it at Arsenal, so where is he now? Denilson Pereira Neves is a player who represented Arsenal during the Banter Era who will be remembered for being outpaced by the referee, jogging back as Arsenal were hit with a counter by Manchester United who scored to make it 3-0.
His time there, however, lasted only two years before he was sold for £2.79m, the only other transfer fee ever paid for him. Off to Dubai he went to play for Al-Wahda FC, but just 23 appearances over three years saw him released in 2018 after a loan spell with Cruzeiro, who declined to take up the option of signing him permanently.
Denilson was 28 at this point and without a club for four months until he signed with Botafogo but he was there just six months before he was, again, without a club. It was another 15 months before he found another team, signing for Sliema Wanderers in the Maltese league, an island with a population of just over half-a-million. Denilson’s contract there, however, only runs to the summer and he is expected, once again, to be without a club.
The Brazilian midfielder is now 34 and has never matched the number of appearances given to him at Arsenal with any of his other clubs. 10 goals and 14 assists in London also dwarfs his contribution across the rest of his career which totals just two goals and eight assists with four other clubs.
