MLS
Who is Brenner, the latest MLS star to move to European soccer?
Brazilian forward Brenner is to join Italian club Udinese from FC Cincinnati, the two teams announced this week.
FC Cincinnati had one of the top attacks in the 2022 MLS season, with the likes of Brenner, Brandon Vázquez and Luciano Acosta performing sensationally as the team reached the playoffs for the first time in its short history.
Now, the first of that trio of stars is off to European soccer.
It had been Vázquez who was chiefly tipped for a move across the Atlantic, having attracted the attention of clubs in the Premier League and Bundesliga. However, it’s Brenner who has sealed a switch to the old continent, after Cincinnati and Udinese both confirmed that the Brazilian is to join the Italian club in July.
Per the Athletic’s Tom Bogert and Jeff Rueter, the 23-year-old’s sale is to net Cincinnati around $10m plus add-ons, with the MLS franchise also receiving a percentage of any sell-on fee.
Who is Brenner?
A product of the São Paulo youth academy, Brenner arrived in MLS in 2021, after scoring 22 Série A goals for the Tricolor Paulista in 2020. Although his initial campaign in the US yielded only eight goals and one assist, he hit form the following season, netting 18 times and providing six assists.
A former Brazil youth international, Brenner had also been the subject of interest from clubs such as Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven.