Lyanco Evangelista Silveira Neves Vojnovic (Serbian Cyrillic: Лијанко Еванжелиста Силвеира Невеш Војновић, born 1 February 1997), known as Lyanco, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Atlético Mineiro.

Lyanco
Lyanco with Brazil U20 in 2017
Personal information
Full nameLyanco Evangelista Silveira Neves Vojnovic[1]
Date of birth (1997-02-01) 1 February 1997 (age 27)
Place of birthVitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Height1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)Centre-back
Team information
Current team
Atlético Mineiro
Number2
Youth career
2011–2014Botafogo
2015–2016São Paulo
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2015–2017São Paulo21(1)
2017–2021Torino46(0)
2019Bologna (loan)13(1)
2021–2024Southampton36(1)
2023–2024Al-Gharafa (loan)13(1)
2024–Atlético Mineiro0(0)
International career
2016Serbia U194(0)
2016–2017Brazil U209(0)
2019–2020Brazil U2311(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 05:33, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Early life

Lyanco is of Portuguese and Serbian descent. His maternal family has Portuguese roots through his mother Carla.[2] Lyanco's paternal grandfather, Jovan Vojnović, was an ethnic Serb born in the part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that is now in present-day Serbia and moved to Brazil at the age of seven, during World War II.[3]

Club career

Early career

Born in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Lyanco started his youth career at Botafogo.[4]

São Paulo

In January 2015, he signed a four-year deal with São Paulo. Lyanco made his professional debut as a substitute in a 2–1 win against Atlético Paranaense.[5] He started and played the 90 minutes in his third professional match, a 0–0 draw against Joinville.[6]

Torino

On 29 March 2017, it was announced that Lyanco had signed a five-year contract with Serie A club Torino, for a reported fee of €6 million plus bonuses.[4][7][8] He immediately moved to Turin to begin training with the team, and facilitate his acclimatisation to the club, at the orders of Siniša Mihajlović.[7] His league debut came on 20 September 2017 in a 3–2 victory over Udinese Calcio.[9]

Bologna (loan)

On 31 January 2019, Lyanco joined Bologna on loan until 30 June 2019.[10]

Southampton

On 25 August 2021, Lyanco joined Southampton on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[4][11] On 21 September 2021, he made his first appearance for Southampton in the EFL Cup against Sheffield United which ended 2–2, with Southampton advancing 4–2 on penalties.[12] On 30 October 2021, Lyanco made his first Premier League appearance, replacing Oriol Romeu in Southampton's 1–0 win against Watford at Vicarage Road.[13] He was forced off with a hamstring injury in the first half of Southampton's FA Cup match against Coventry City on 5 February 2022, and was expected to be sidelined for up to 12 weeks.[14][15] On 16 April 2022, Lyanco returned from injury and appeared in a 1–0 victory against Arsenal.[16]

On 8 May 2023, Lyanco scored his first Premier League goal in a 4–3 defeat to Nottingham Forest.[17] He went to Istanbul for transfer negotiations with Beşiktaş on 19 July 2023, but the transfer collapsed due to a change in the terms of the agreement proposed to Southampton.[18]

Al-Gharafa (loan)

On 29 August 2023, Lyanco joined Al-Gharafa on a season-long loan.[19] Three days later, he made his debut for the club in a 1–4 victory against Al Ahli.[20] On 28 September 2023, Lyanco was given a red card for violent conduct during a 4–0 defeat to Al Sadd.[21] He scored his first goal for the club on 11 March 2024 in a 0–2 victory against Muaither.[22]

Atlético Mineiro

On 5 July 2024, Lyanco joined Atlético Mineiro for an undisclosed fee.[23]

International career

On 28 January 2016, Lyanco announced on his official Twitter account that he had agreed with officials from the Football Association of Serbia, to represent Serbian youth teams at international level.[3] He featured for Serbia U19 in the qualifiers for the U19 European Championship.[3] Subsequently, he accepted a call up by Brazil U20 boss Rogério Micale and switched his allegiance back to Brazil.[3]

Personal life

Lyanco is married and has a daughter.[24]

Career statistics

As of match played 19 May 2024[25][26]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueNational cup[a]League cup[b]ContinentalOther[c]Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
São Paulo2015Série A9020110
2016Série A1211000131
2017Série A00100010
Total21140000000251
Torino2017–18Serie A402060
2018–19Serie A202040
2019–20Serie A1701000180
2020–21[27]Serie A23021251
Total46071531
Bologna (loan)2018–19Serie A13100131
Southampton2021–22[28]Premier League1501020180
2022–23[29]Premier League2113060301
2023–24[30]Championship00001010
Total36140900000491
Al-Gharafa (loan)2023–24Qatar Stars League1312110162
Atlético Mineiro2024Série A00000000
Career total12941729000101566

Honours

São Paulo U20

Brazil U23

Individual

References