Piazon, Lucas

Lucas Piazon was born in São Paulo to the family of Antonio Carlos Piazon, Sales Representative, and Marizabel Dominguez, Attorney. He grew up in a financially prosperous family, which allowed him to focus at the same time both on school and on football lessons. Both parents of Piazon took an active part in the beginning of his career. He grew up with his sister Juliana, who was 3 years younger than him ^[2] and was a fan of Chelsea from an early age, dreaming of playing for them once ^{[3] [4]}

When he was a young man, the Piazon family moved to Parana . Piazon's football skills began to develop at age 8. Like other Brazilian footballers (such as Zico and Ronaldinho ), he showed interest in futsal. He began playing on the team now known as Coritiba. At age 11, Piazon changed parquet for grass.

Youth Clubs

Piazon began his professional career at Coritiba. In this team, he was able to prove himself, becoming the top scorer in every tournament in which he participated. Koritiba did not have sufficient funds, so his parents had to pay for the trips of his son and other children. In 2007, he moved to a more organized neighboring club, Atletico Paranaense . He again managed to shine when in 2008 the youth team “Atletico” was able to reach the final of the Brazilian Cup among youth under 15 years old, which she lost to “São Paulo”. São Paulo was very impressed with his performance, and the club made a proposal. At age 14, Piazon left his family and moved to São Paulo. In May, he began to attract the attention of international scouts when he helped São Paulo get into the finals of the prestigious Youth Premier Cup tournament. Around the same time, he was called up to the Brazilian youth team until the age of 15. In August, São Paulo traveled to Manchester to take part in the final part of the Premier Cup. At the group stage, Piazon scored in a match against Manchester United , which ended in victory for São Paulo with a score of 3-0. In the final match of the tournament, São Paulo defeated Werder Bremen .

Chelsea

In early 2011, Chelsea signed a preliminary contract with Piazon, repulsing interest from a number of leading clubs in the world, including the Italian grand Juventus ^[5] . On March 15, 2011, Sao Paulo announced that Piazon can play for Chelsea only on January 20, 2012, when he turns 18 and can get a work visa, but he will switch to the summer transfer window already in 2011. After 10 days, Chelsea announced that Piazon had successfully undergone a medical examination. On March 16, 2011, a message appeared that Chelsea had reached an agreement to transfer one of Brazil's most talented players ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} . According to some reports, Chelsea paid around 5 million euros to purchase Piazon, and the price may rise depending on some points ^{[6] [7]} . In an interview, he said: “I like the Premier League . I think my style and my skills are more suitable for the Premier League ” ^[10] . Immediately after his transition to the summer transfer window, Piazon began to play for the backup team “blue”.

Piazon made his debut in the reserve team in a match against Fulham, after which he said: “Now I can play in the Youth Cup of England”, and added: “Everyone knows that I am here to play, and my main goal is to participate in as many matches of the reserve team as possible and victory in the Youth Cup of England. " He also said: “I enjoy the company of Ramirez, Alex, and, of course, David Louis is my best friend here. He is very funny and constantly jokes. ” ^[11] Piazon scored his first goal for the reserve team in the match against Arsenal shortly before the end of regular time after a solo passage ^{[12] [13]} . He scored 2 goals in 5 games for the reserve team and 1 goal in 6 games for the youth team, including the winning goal in the Youth Cup match against Doncaster Rovers ^[14] . On May 9, 2012, he helped his team win the Youth Cup in a match against Blackburn Rovers.

January 20, 2012, when he was 18 years old, Piazon received a work visa and got the opportunity to play in the main team of Chelsea. On January 26, he signed an extended contract that linked him to the club until 2017. ^[15] After an impressive performance at a youthful level, Piazon received the 35th number, which previously belonged to Juliano Belletti . On January 31, 2012, he was one of the substitutes in the Premier League match against Swansea City , which ended in a draw ^[16] , and also on February 5 in the match against Manchester United ^[17] . After the game with Manchester United, the former Chelsea head coach Andre Villas-Boash said: “He [Piazon] trained more with the main team, which is very good for him. He made great progress since the transition and in the last two games was on the bench. Unfortunately, he did not have the opportunity to enter the field, but he showed himself well in the reserve team. He is the player we hope for in the future ” ^[18]

On May 10, 2012, Piazon was named Chelsea's best young player in his very first season. He was part of the team that won the Youth Cup the day before. “I am very happy and I did not expect this. This week has been fantastic for me. David Luis and Ramirez helped me a lot, because when I arrived, I was lonely. I hope to stay at Chelsea for a long time and I will work, ”he said ^[19] . Later that week, he was among the substitutes in the last round of the season, in a home game against Blackburn Rovers , which Chelsea won 2-1, but he did not take part in the game ^[20] . He said that he would continue his development and would like to get into the "foundation", saying: "I hope to be in the" base ", train with her every day and, if possible, play several games." He said that “he always dreamed of playing for Chelsea” ^[21] .

2012/13 Season

During pre-season preparations before the start of the 2012/13 season, Piazon got a chance to prove himself to Chelsea head coach Roberto Di Matteo after taking part in the USA tour, replacing 3 of 4 matches and making his debut in the main team in the match against the Seattle Sounders , which ended in a 4-2 victory ^[22] . He scored his first goal in the second match for the main team, equalizing the score in the game against Paris Saint-Germain , which ended with the score 1: 1. He later spoke of his admiration: “It was good for me, it was something special to score in his second game” ^{[23] [24]} . Piazon came on as a substitute in the match against the all-MLS stars team, lost with a score of 2: 3 ^[25] , and was among the substitutes in the next game, which ended with the victory of AC Milan 1: 0 ^[26] .

Piazon was included in the 2012/13 Chelsea application for the UEFA Champions League together with his Brazilian friends David Luis , Oscar and Ramirez ^{[27] [28]} , replacing Florent Malouda there ^[29] . Piazon made his debut for Chelsea in an official match in the Football League Cup game against Wolverhampton Wanderers , in which the Blues defeated their opponents with a score of 6: 0, and the Brazilian himself assisted Ryan Bertrand ^[30] . On October 31, 2012, Piazon played in his second match in the Football League Cup against Manchester United, which ended in a Chelsea victory in extra time, Piazon was replaced by Eden Azar in the 55th minute ^{[31] [32]} . On November 8, Piazon scored a goal in the NextGen Series match, in which Chelsea defeated Molde 6-0 ^[33] . He made his debut in the Premier League on December 23, substituting for the match against Aston Villa , which ended in the defeat of the Birmingham team with a score of 8: 0, in which he gave an assist for Ramirez and did not score a penalty, which he himself earned ^{[ 34]} .

Rent at Málaga

During the winter transfer window, Lucas was leased to the Spanish “ Malaga ” ^{[35] [36]} . There he got a T-shirt with the 12th number - the former number of Santi Cazorla .

On January 25, 2013, in the Spanish Cup match against Barcelona , Piazon made his debut for Malaga, replacing Joaquin Sanchez in the second half ^[37] . On February 9, he made his debut in La Liga , replacing Joaquin instead in the 67th minute in the match against Levante , which ended in a 2-1 victory for the anchovies ^[38] . February 16, Lucas played the first match in the first team, and gave an assist to Javier Saviola , who scored the only winning goal against Athletic Bilbao . Piazon himself was replaced in the 80th minute ^[39] . On February 19, Piazon made his first debut in the UEFA Champions League in the first match of the 1/8 finals against Porto . Lucas replaced on 78 minutes instead of Julio Baptista , the match was lost 1-0 ^[40] .

Rental Renting

On August 31, 2015, Lucas moved to the Reading Club, playing in the Championship , on loan for a period of one season ^[41] . September 26, scored the first goal for Reading in the 9th minute in a match against Burnley (2: 1) ^[42] .

Piazon played for the national team until the age of 15, with the team took second place in the championship of South America, becoming his top scorer with 10 goals. In 2011, he was called to the championship of South America to 17 years. This tournament, “ Celesao ” won, largely due to the good game of Piazon. A little later I went to the youth world championship , during which the Brazilians took only 4 place.

As of May 2, 2016 ^[43]

Team

  Chelsea

• England Youth Cup Winner : 2012

  Brazil national team

• U.S. Youth Champion U17: 2011 ^[44]

Personal

• Chelsea Best Young Player : 2012

• Profile at whoscored.com
• Soccer Player Profile at Chelseafc.com
• Soccer Player Profile on Football-lineups.com