In 2020, Reinier Jesus Carvalho was Real Madrid's marquee signing, expected to become the next star. After several difficult years without stability, he returned to Brazil in 2025 with Atletico Mineiro, where he appears to have found happiness again.
Reinier Jesus Carvalho, who was signed by Real Madrid in 2020, is smiling and enjoying football again after six years of constantly changing teams. The winger has found at Atletico Mineiro the role he had been waiting for for so many years. To be a protagonist, to have continuity and, above all, to enjoy playing football again without the pressure that being signed by the biggest club in the world meant for him.
It was in January 2020 when the Merengue team, in a strategy to get ahead in the Brazilian market — they had recently done it with Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo —, paid €30 million for Reinier, who had barely established himself at Flamengo at 18 years old. But unfortunately, his story with the first team never really began, since his time as a merengue can be summarized in a brief period at Castilla.
In the summer of that same year, he was loaned to Borussia Dortmund; he stayed there for two seasons, but could never establish himself in the first team. He participated in 39 games during his stay in Germany, but could only score one goal and give one assist. This ended with a new loan, now to Girona, after a regular 2022/23 season, showing slight flashes of his quality.
However, with two goals and one assist in 18 matches, he had to pack his bags again for his next destination, Frosinone. In Italy, he registered a considerable increase in his minutes, but his three goals and two assists in 23 matches meant he could not find stability in Serie A either.
Having as his last destination in Europe, Granada. It was his last opportunity to show what he was really capable of, to fulfill those expectations that had fallen on him after his departure from Flamengo. He closed the season with one goal and four assists in 24 matches. After this, he had to return to Real Madrid, but there were no plans for him on the team.
It was not until August 2025 that his "savior" appeared, Atletico Mineiro, which gave him the opportunity after five years in which the player lived through four loans. The Brazilian team acquired 50% of Reinier's rights, and Madrid kept the other 50%. Later, the footballer explained his decision to return to Brazil: "I was trying to find my happiness. I had been on loan for five years. I was not happy."
Recently, after Mineiro's victory over Fluminense, in which the Brazilian scored and was again one of the team's figures. Natanael and Bernard kept repeating in the locker room, "Florentino does not make mistakes. He never makes mistakes. He has already seen this inside-the-foot shot before," over and over after the match, in reference to that €30 million signing that was so questioned all these years.
