Lucas Moura's father and youth coach on a prodigy who is finally getting his due

Spurs, you may have heard, didn’t make any new signings during the summer transfer window, but they do have Lucas Moura playing like a new man. Four games into the season, Moura has started four games and scored three goals—two of them in a massive 3-0 win at Manchester United on his way to being named the Premier League’s player of the month for August. As a youngster, Moura nearly joined United, choosing instead Paris Saint-Germain. It’s impossible to say how his career might have been different had he gone to Old Trafford, but one thing is certain: it was Moura’s path through Paris that has finally led him, at the age of 26, to a starring role in the Premier League.

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For a kid growing up in São Paulo, in 1999, just making it out alive was not something one could take for granted. The city was one of Latin America’s most violent, with a murder rate of 52.5 per 100,000. And Moura was a young footballer who was simultaneously discovering that he was blessed with a special talent that made him the envy of classmates and trying his best to avoid becoming involved in the trouble that was always present in the city.

“Since he was four-years-old, he was playing football in the street, dribbling at players much older than him—he has always shown no fear,” Lucas’ father Jorge told The Athletic. “Luckily, we lived on the edge of the city, where it was more quiet. Every day in Brazil, even now, we live with the threat of violence—we thank God that Lucas was able to stay away from it.”

It was at the academy founded by Marcelinho Carioca—the most decorated player in Brazilian superpower Corinthians’ history—where Lucas first honed his dynamic and direct dribbling style. He was so good he even earned the nickname “Marcelinho” in homage to the name above the door.

The academy kept Lucas busy, but it couldn’t guarantee that he would stay out of trouble.

“It is true that some people that Lucas went to school with have been killed, but this is the reality of Brazil,” Jorge said. “You can choose good or evil, and we ensured Lucas chose good.”

He also chose, at the age of 13, São Paulo FC, a club that provided accomodation to take Lucas away from the troubles on the streets around the family home, but just as things seemed to be looking up for Lucas, his world fell apart.

“Lucas took my break-up with my wife very badly,” Jorge said. “It affected the whole family—we were living in a nightmare when Lucas had just moved to São Paulo, but we stayed strong and now we are all a very strong family—I love my wife in a different way, and Lucas is happy with the way we are now. That experience made him strong.”

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Lucas’ ability to perform on the pitch took a hit, but his club could see what a talent they had on their hands, so they took extra steps to ensure Lucas got the support he needed.  

“I remember staying up late at night talking to him,” Bruno Petri, Lucas’ youth coach at São Paulo told The Athletic. “His family meant everything to him and he was devastated. It was easy talking to him, though, as he was very mature for his age. I believe that being thrown into the São Paulo team so young, while dealing with what happened with his parents, meant he could handle any pressure later on.”

Things then started to go very well on the pitch. Petri nurtured Lucas through the youth ranks, and in 2010 an 18-year-old Lucas was debuting for the first team.

“I was the first coach to put him in the starting line up,” Petri said. “He was at the top of a midfield three, in the No. 10 role. I played him in spells, not every week, to keep him hungry, and so he wouldn’t be overworked and feel the pressure. He dominated the ball when he had it, and had the technical ability to take on most players. His vision was incredible. Interest in him kept coming.”

Lucas managed three full seasons in São Paulo before approaches from two clubs in particular became impossible to ignore.

“At the time, Leonardo was director of PSG and he contacted me several times to explain the project they were setting up,” said Jorge, referring to the former Brazil legend. “This was before the days when they spent so much money. We were interested, but we had pretty much decided Lucas was going to go to Manchester United.”

Manchester United, desperate to bring in the talented youngster, took a more direct approach in the art of persuasion.

“I received a letter from (Sir Alex) Ferguson stating that he had been an admirer of Lucas for a long time, and that the door was always open for him to come to Manchester,” Jorge said. “It was very tempting, but we liked the career prospect that Leonardo was presenting, so we changed our mind and decided on Paris. We have no regrets; he loved it in Paris.”

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Lucas’ transfer, at €45 million, was then a club record for PSG. Though he garnered 16 trophies and scored 46 goals during his five-year stint in the French capital, fans left feeling underwhelmed that Paris never got the messiah that local media had predicted.

The signings of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar saw Lucas cast aside last season. He didn’t start a single Ligue 1 match before joining Tottenham in January, much to Neymar’s annoyance.

The two Brazilians had  both starred for the Brazil team that prevailed at the 2011 South American Youth Championship, where Lucas wore the No. 10 shirt and stole the headlines in the final, his hat-trick leading Brazil to a 6-0 win over Uruguay.

“People think that the are friends from the Under-20s, but it goes back much further,” Jorge said. “They used to play futsal against each other when Neymar was at Gremental and Lucas at Santa Maria. They are really great friends. Neymar was not happy when his friend had to leave Paris. They compliment each other very well.”

Lucas and his superstar friend’s careers have taken very different paths, though, with the man Lucas outshone in the Under-20 championships in 2011 now one of the planet’s most recognizable names, with almost three times as many caps for Brazil’s senior team.

After Lucas’ January move to Tottenham, little changed initially—he remained on the periphery. Perhaps his career had stagnated to the point of no return, and he would have to make do with a place on the bench for the foreseeable future?

“What happened at Tottenham when he first came is normal,” said Jorge. “People think that he found it difficult to settle, but after what he has been through in his life, it has been easy. Moving to Paris on his own at 20 was the difficult move, not this one. You cannot expect to walk straight into an already established team.”

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Now, Lucas is one of the first names on the team sheet for Spurs, and he could not have wished for a better start to the campaign. But after the loss to Watford, and with Liverpool to come this weekend, Tottenham’s claim to be classed as serious title contenders will face a severe test.

Lucas’ form will make him a marked man by a backline that has been breached just once all season. But according to his father, having overcome so much heartache to get to this point in his career, Lucas is prepared for anyone who dares stand in his way.

“He is ready to take on the world,” Jorge said. “He wants to win the Champions League, the World Cup, everything. He has the talent to do it all. He is focused, he’s got a good head, he’s got a good family now, a little boy and his wife, lots of friends with him, living in a quiet area of Barnet just outside London. The stage is set to see the best of Lucas.”

(Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

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