.jpg) Willian Arão withFenerbahçe in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Willian Souza Arão da Silva[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1992-03-12)12 March 1992 (age 33)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | São Paulo, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Santos | ||
| Number | 15 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2007 | Grêmio Barueri | ||
| 2008–2010 | São Paulo | ||
| 2010 | Espanyol | ||
| 2011–2012 | Corinthians | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2012–2015 | Corinthians | 17 | (0) |
| 2013 | →Portuguesa (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2014 | →Chapecoense (loan) | 15 | (1) |
| 2014 | →Atlético Goianiense (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2015 | →Botafogo (loan) | 54 | (6) |
| 2016–2022 | Flamengo | 277 | (24) |
| 2022–2023 | Fenerbahçe | 31 | (0) |
| 2023–2025 | Panathinaikos | 56 | (4) |
| 2025– | Santos | 10 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2017 | Brazil | 1 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 04:10, 25 November 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 25 January 2017 | |||
Willian Souza Arão da Silva (born 12 March 1992) is a Brazilian professionalfootballer who plays forSantos. Mainly adefensive midfielder, he can also play as acentre-back.
Arão started his youth career playing forSão Paulo andCorinthians, where he had his first professional experience, although Arão spend most of his following years playing on loan for different Brazilian clubs, including a very consistent2015 season withBotafogo winning the2015 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B.
In 2016 Arão was involved in a very complicated transfer toFlamengo with Botafogo complaining about the way their rivals approached the player. The situation is still to be solved in the Brazilian justice court.[3]
Born inSão Paulo, Arão began his career in the youth sides ofGrêmio Barueri at the age of 15.[4] He left forSão Paulo FC in 2008, and became a part of the squad which won the 2010Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior.
Shortly after winning theCopinha, Arão was spotted by agentMino Raiola, who brought him to Spanish sideEspanyol.[5] He spent eight months at the club, and despite training with the main squad and with theB-team, he was unable to play due to bureaucratic problems.
In November 2011, Arão moved toCorinthians.[6] After appearing with the main squad in a friendly againstFlamengo, he made his professional debut on 15 April 2012, starting in a 2–1Campeonato Paulista away win overPonte Preta.[7]
A backup toRalf andPaulinho, Arão was a part of both2012 Copa Libertadores and2012 FIFA Club World Cup squads, despite not featuring in both competitions; in the former, he replacedAdriano in the list for the quarterfinals, and in the latter, he was registered afterGuilherme Andrade was signed after the allowed date by FIFA.[8]
On 6 August 2013, after being demoted to fourth-choice, Arão was loaned to fellow top tier sidePortuguesa until the end of the year.[9] At the club he played a total of fifteen matches, including his first two continental appearances at2013 Copa Sudamericana.
On 9 January 2014, Arão signed withChapecoense a one-year loan deal.[10] Regularly used in the year'sCampeonato Catarinense, he scored his first professional goal on 12 February, netting his side's second in a 3–2 home win overAtlético Hermann Aichinger.[11]
On 27 June 2014, after just twoSérie A matches, Arão's loan was cut short.[12]
On 18 September 2014, after failing to make an appearance back at Corinthians, Arão was loaned toSérie B sideAtlético Goianiense until the end of the year.[13] He played a total of thirteen2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B matches, twelve of those as starter.[14]
On 10 January 2015, Arão joinedBotafogo on loan until the end of2015 season.[15][16] A regular starter, he scored seven goals in 58 appearances overall for the club; one of those goals was the winner in a 2–1 away success overABC which sealed Botafogo's2015 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B title.[17]
On 27 November 2015, after media outletGloboEsporte.com reported that Arão had a deal withFlamengo,[17] Botafogo exercised theR$ 400,000 buyout clause on his loan deal, and activated a permanent two-year contract.[18] Hours later, Arão sent back the sum to Botafogo,[19] and the club tried to pay the sum three days later, which was also returned; Botafogo later went to Court to secure the player's rights.[20]
As Arão owned 50% of his economic rights (thus being a "third-party ownership"), himself and his representatives considered the new regulation fromFIFA (which took effect on 1 May 2015) banning third-party ownership and considering the contracts signed between January and April 2015 of a maximum of one year.[21] Despite Botafogo considering the contract was valid due to its register in theCBF and in theFERJ, and having the first instance on their favour, Arão was declared afree agent on 10 December 2015.[22]
On 14 December 2015, Flamengo announced the signing of Arão on a three-year contract.[23] He instantly earned a first team spot being selected to the2016 Bola de Prata.
On 28 December 2016, Arão signed another three-year contract with Flamengo until December 2019.[24] In 2018, he lost space in the first team and was linked to a move toInternacional[25] andOlympiacos, which never materialized. Flamengo and the Greek side agreed to a€2.5 million fee,[26] but the transfer was canceled a few days later after Arão failed to agree terms of his wages.[27]
On 24 December 2018, after regaining his starting spot, Arão further extended his link withFla until 2021.[28] In the following campaign, he was moved to a more defensive midfield position by new head coachJorge Jesus, becoming an important unit of the club'sCarioca,Série A andCopa Libertadores wins.[29]
With head coachRogério Ceni, during the2020 season, Arão started to also feature ascentre-back.[30]
On 14 July 2022, Arão moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing a two-year contract with an option for an additional year with Turkish clubFenerbahçe.[31] Reunited with former Flamengo head coach Jesus, he was a regular starter during his only season at the club.
On 17 August 2023, after Jesus' departure from Fenerbachçe, Arão also left the club to join Greek sidePanathinaikos on a two-year contract.[32] On 20 May 2025, after two seasons as a starter, the club announced his departure.[33]
On 1 July 2025,Santos announced the signing of Arão until December 2026.[34] He made his club debut fifteen days later, replacingGuilherme late into a 1–0 home win over former side Flamengo.[35]
On 19 January 2017 Arão was called up to theBrazil national team for the first time to play afriendly match againstColombia.[36][37] He made his full international debut six days later, starting in the 1–0 win at theNilton Santos.
| Club | Season | League | State League[a] | Cup[b] | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Corinthians | 2011 | Série A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | ||
| 2013 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 0 | |||
| Total | 10 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | ||
| Portuguesa (loan) | 2013 | Série A | 13 | 0 | — | — | 2[c] | 0 | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| Chapecoense (loan) | 2014 | Série A | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 16 | 1 | ||
| Atlético Goianiense (loan) | 2014 | Série B | 13 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 13 | 0 | ||||
| Botafogo (loan) | 2015 | Série B | 35 | 5 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 1 | — | — | 58 | 7 | ||
| Flamengo | 2016 | Série A | 37 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | 4[d] | 0 | 62 | 7 |
| 2017 | 30 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 16[e] | 4 | 1[d] | 4 | 67 | 9 | ||
| 2018 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3[f] | 0 | — | 32 | 2 | |||
| 2019 | 35 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12[f] | 0 | 2[g] | 0 | 64 | 5 | ||
| 2020 | 32 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5[f] | 1 | 3[h] | 0 | 57 | 2 | ||
| 2021 | 30 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 11[f] | 3 | 1[i] | 0 | 55 | 4 | ||
| 2022 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6[f] | 1 | 1[i] | 0 | 34 | 5 | ||
| Total | 201 | 13 | 76 | 11 | 27 | 1 | 55 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 371 | 38 | ||
| Fenerbahçe | 2022–23 | Süper Lig | 31 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | 8[j] | 1 | — | 45 | 1 | ||
| Panathinaikos | 2023–24 | Super League Greece | 32 | 3 | — | 6 | 0 | 7[k] | 0 | — | 45 | 3 | ||
| 2024–25 | 24 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | 14[l] | 0 | — | 39 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 56 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 4 | ||
| Santos | 2025 | Série A | 10 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 371 | 22 | 115 | 13 | 45 | 2 | 86 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 629 | 47 | ||
| Team | Season | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 2017 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | |
Corinthians
Botafogo
Flamengo
Fenerbahçe
Panathinaikos
