- Planet Sport writer
- 18 May 2023
Tottenham confirm Lucas Moura will leave at the end of the season
Lucas Moura will wave at emotional goodbye to Tottenham at the end of the season.
Lucas Rodrigues Moura da Silva is a Brazilian footballer who was born on August 13, 1992, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Moura started his professional career at Sao Paulo, before moving to Europe to play for French giants Paris St Germain, who he joined for a then club record fee of €45 million.
He won Ligue 1 four times and the Coupe de France three times whilst in the French capital, before joing Tottenham in 2018 for £25million.
Moura's early career
As a youngster, he played in his native country for youth team Clube Atletico Juventus from 1999 to 2002.
After three seasons, he moved on to Corinthians for another three years of youth soccer. In 2005, he moved on to Sao Paulo's youth team, playing there for five years before turning 18.
He made his professional debut with the Sao Paulo senior team in 2010 and soon made a name for himself as a speedy and creative winger. His first professional goal came on September 5 in a 3-2 win over Atletico Mineiro. In that first season, he played in 25 games, scoring four goals and picking up four assists.
In 2011, he scored nine goals and added four assists for Sao Paulo.
His final Sao Paulo season was in 2012, when he scored 16 goals with 15 assists in 60 games. On December 12, Sao Paulo played in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Argentine club Tigre after the first leg had finished goalless. Lucas scored in the 22nd minute to give Tricolor the lead, and they won 2-0 as Tigre didn't return to the field for the second half, claiming they had been attacked by a group of men as they left the pitch at half time and then had guns pulled on them by police.
Lucas Moura signs for Paris Saint-Germain
In January 2013, Moura moved to Paris Saint-Germain for a transfer fee reported to be in the region of €45million. He was assigned the No. 29 shirt and debuted in Ligue 1 on January 11 against AC Ajaccio. He picked up his first PSG assist against Valencia in the Champions League on February 12. PSG lost in the quarter-finals of the competition but won their first Ligue 1 title in 19 years later that campaign.
PSG retained their title as Ligue 1 champions in 2013/14 and Moura's first PSG goal came against Bordeaux in that season, on September 13. He played in all 10 of PSG's Champions League games as they were eliminated by Chelsea in the quarter-finals. In 36 Ligue 1 appearances, he scored five goals and also played a part in PSG lifting the Trophee des Champions and Coupe de la Ligue.
In the 2014/15 season, Moura scored eight goals in 46 games. Seven of those goals came in Ligue 1 play, with one in the Coupe de France. He scored his first Ligue 1 brace on October 25 in a 3-0 home win over Bordeaux.
In 2015/16, Moura played in 56 games and scored 13 goals, nine of which came in Ligue 1. He netted a brace against Guingamp in the league and scored twice in Champions League action too.
The 2016/17 season saw PSG finish second in Ligue 1, ending their run of four straight titles. They also exited the Champions League in the last 16 but did win the Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophee des Champions.
Moura played in 37 Ligue 1 games with a career-high 12 goals, and he scored 19 times overall in 53 games. He scored in the 2016 Trophee des Champions, a 4-1 win over Lyon. He had two multi-goal games in the league and added goals in the Coupe de France quarter-finals and Coupe de la Ligue last 16 as well as two in Champions League play.
The 2017/18 season was the last for Moura in Paris. He played in just five Ligue 1 games as a substitute with one goal and did not appear in the Champions League.
With PSG, he won four Ligue 1 championships, three Coupe de France titles, four Coupe de la Ligue winners' medals and five Trophee des Champions crowns.
Lucas Moura at Spurs
On January 31, 2018, the last day of the transfer window, Moura was sold by PSG to Tottenham Hotspur for £25million. He signed a contract with Spurs through to 2023 and debuted in the Champions League against Juventus on February 13. He scored his first Spurs goal five days later against Rochdale in the FA Cup.
In the 2018/19 season, Moura played in 50 games for Spurs, including 37 starts. He scored 15 goals and added one assist as Tottenham made it to the Champions League final. Moura started and scored in the Champions League group stage against PSV Eindhoven and scored as a sub against Barcelona in December.
Moura bagged his first professional hat-trick on April 13, 2019, at home against Huddersfield. He didn't score in the next six games but then exploded with another hat-trick.
This one came in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final with Ajax in a 3-2 win in Amsterdam that sent Spurs to their first-ever final. Spurs trailed 2-0 against the Dutch side, with Moura's three goals all coming in the second half. The final one was struck in sixth minute of added time.
Moura was awarded
L'Equipe's perfect 10 rating for the game, just the 10th player ever to earn such a score.
WHAT A FINISH. UNBELIEVABLE!
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 13, 2019
🇧🇷 Lucas Moura 🔥🔥🔥#UCL | @SpursOfficial pic.twitter.com/eJBUacWQIw
Moura played in 47 games for Spurs in 2019/20 with 36 starts. He scored seven goals and added five assists as Tottenham finished sixth in the Premier League and exited the Champions League at the last-16 stage. Four of his goals in 2019/20 came in Premier League play. He also scored twice in the FA Cup.
Moura scored his first 2020/21 goal in the Premier League at home against Newcastle United on September 27. He scored in the Europa League for the first time in Spurs' 7-2 play-off round win over Maccabi Haifa on October 1.
Moura also scored in the group stage win over LASK and scored in both games against Ludogorets on November 5 and November 26. These strikes gave him three goals in four Europa League group games as Spurs advanced to the knockout round.
He ended the season with nine goals in 50 appearances across all competitions, and was part of the Spurs side that lost in the final of the 2021 League Cup to Manchester City.
Moura continued to play an important squad player role in the 2021/22 season, as Tottenham qualified for the Champions League, but he scored just six goals in 45 appearances across all competitions. Although one of those goals proved to be the winner in the quarter-final victory over West Ham.
As the 2022/23 drew to a close, Moura announced he was leaving Tottenham at the end of the season.
The Brazilian forward struggled for fitness and form during campaign with no goals in his 17 appearances.
Moura missed a large chunk of the first half of the campaign with a tendon injury and since his return after the World Cup had been involved in several difficult moments for Spurs, being sent off in a 1-1 draw at Everton before his error resulted in Liverpool scoring a stoppage-time winner in April.
Moura had scored 38 goals in 219 appearances since he moved to Tottenham in the winter transfer window of 2018.
Brazil debut, Olympics silver and World Cup woe
Moura played for Brazil's U-20 team in the 2011 South American Championships, scoring a hat-trick against Uruguay in the final. He moved up to the senior team and made his full international debut against Scotland on March 27, 2011.
He played in the 2011 Copa America as Brazil lost in the quarter-finals to Paraguay before scoring his first senior international goal against Argentina on September 28, 2011.
Moura also played in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He started in the group stage against New Zealand and came off the bench in three other games. In the gold-medal match against Mexico, Moura came off the bench in the 85th minute as Brazil fell 2-1 and had to settle for silver.
In 2013, Moura played for Brazil in the Confederations Cup, appearing twice as a substitute in the group stage. Moura wasn't chosen for the 2014 World Cup, which was played in his home country.
He appeared in two friendlies in 2015 and played in one group-stage game in the 2016 Copa America Centenario in the United States. His most recent appearance for Brazil came in a friendly on October 12, 2018, as he played 45 minutes against Saudi Arabia.
Prior to 2023, he had played for his country 35 times, scoring four goals.
Lucas Moura's personal life
Moura's parents are Maria and Jorge Rodrigues. He attended Catholic school as a youngster and also Marcelinho Carioca's soccer school for six months.
He married Larissa Saad, a Brazilian model, in 2016.
The couple have two children, Miguel (2018) and Pedro (2019).
Lucas Moura's net worth
Moura is estimated to be worth $33million. He is under contract with Tottenham through to 2024 after signing an extension in 2019, earning $5.2million per year. Moura was the 10th highest-paid player in the Spurs team in 2020.
