Euro Expert view: What Tetê will bring to Leicester City
The signing of Tetê or Mateus Cardoso Lemos Martins, has been largely heralded as one of the most exciting Leicester City transfers in some time. This could simply be due to the dearth of actual signings arriving at the King Power in recent years, or potentially as he will become the first Brazilian to wear the royal blue shirt.
In general, the move is seen a positive statement of intent by the club, addressing a key problem area with a player renowned for his attacking capabilities.
Starting his career with Grêmio in their reserves, a 19-year old Tetê soon caught the eye of scouts from Ukranian side Shakktar Donetsk, a team with a rich history of signing exciting, and ultimately successful Brazilian players. Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa, Alex Teixeira and even Fred have all worn the famous orange and red stripes.
Following the conflict in Ukraine and subsequent suspension of their football league, Tetê was one of the first players to sign elsewhere under the special rules set out by FIFA, joining Lyon in Ligue 1.
It was here that he caught the eye of Alex Barker, freelance journalist and European football expert (@EuroExpert_ on Twitter).
We turned to Alex in order to get some more insight into the sort of player Leicester have signed – what’s he like, what can we expect and is the signing more Mahrez than Ghezzal?
Firstly, for those who may not have heard much of Tetê prior to this window, what sort of player have Leicester signed?
Leicester have signed a talented, young right winger that is blessed with pace, skill, and pretty quality finishing.
In terms of being the club’s first Brazilian, he's currently on track to be one of the best ones operating in Europe.
Big statement! What are his biggest strengths and characteristics?
This season he has been scoring goals that you wouldn't expect many to score. Perhaps that has been down to luck, but to score 6 goals in a really poor Lyon side, that's been unstable since he arrived last January, is impressive.
Something else to touch on is how he isn't completely one-footed. This has been a common topic of discussion with Premier League wingers - Antony, for example, regularly gets criticised for failing to use his right foot.
Tetê may not be a two-footed player, but he will be unpredictable on the right-hand side.
Leicester have tried, and failed, to replace Riyad Mahrez, with Rachid Ghezzal, Cengiz Under and Fousseni Diabate all flopping - can we expect greater things from Tetê?
Absolutely. Some people may be even more fearful, since Cengiz Under has had a fairly successful spell in France with Marseille, of course the same league where Tetê has made his name.
But his pedigree goes back further - just ask Real Madrid. It was his goal that opened the scoring all the way back in 2020, when Shakhtar got a historic victory away in Spain.
The Premier League is famously hard to adapt to, how do you see Tetê adjusting?
When he moved from Ukraine after Putin's invasion, he scored on his Ligue 1 debut against Angers, and played in each of his first, and Lyon's last 9 games of the league season.
I see him adapting well, especially with how physical French football has become in recent years, with Mauricio Pochettino and Lionel Messi echoing this sentiment in their first season in Paris.
It’s good prep for English football.
Do you see this providing a lift to any from within the Leicester squad in particular?
Yes. I was talking with a couple of fans, who point out rightly that even if he fails to produce anything, he is a net-positive on the side, just by function of moving James Maddison more centrally. That in itself will be a big lift, and Tetê provided a lift to the Lyon squad when he arrived. They lost just 2 of his first 9 games.
How would you make the most of Tetê tactically if you were Brendan Rodgers?
I would use him as a wide right winger. This is where he differs slightly to Riyad Mahrez, a player who can sometimes be more of a playmaker, cutting inside, slowing play down and crossing/shooting.
Tetê works best as someone who goes at his defender 1v1, or ghosts in to the back post, like he did recently against Stade Brest. It means he doesn't always have to be fed the ball to score or assist.
Finally, how would you rate this transfer /10 - how excited should we be?
It's a 9/10.
Of course, as most statistical analysts and football directors say, 50% of transfers fail. To my knowledge, Tetê doesn't have the greatest command of English and so there is risk in his adaption.
But as I outlined, I think the risk is as minimal as it can be given the circumstances, and everything points to him improving this side either directly or indirectly.
