How Rodrigo Muniz became Fulham's main man... with a little help from ex-Chelsea star

Dom Smith19 March 2024

Things may well have been very different for Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz had he not taken on board the advice of a former Chelsea player.

Muniz is the talk of the Premier League right now — the in-form striker in the top-flight and its leading goalscorer since the start of February.

But without the intervention of Filipe Luis, he would probably not be in England at all.

Muniz was not a regular scorer for Flamengo in Brazil, but his performances, including a bicycle kick at the Maracana, were attracting interest in the summer of 2021.

He wanted to make a big-money move to Al-Nassr, but Flamengo team-mate Filipe Luis eulogised about his time at Chelsea and urged against leaving for Saudi Arabia.

So Muniz instead joined Fulham for £6.8million as an unproven 20-year-old striker who did not speak English and had everything to prove.

It has taken him more than two years, but he is now proving himself. He has scored seven goals in Fulham’s past seven Premier League matches, including a double in Saturday’s 3-0 win against Tottenham.

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The 22-year-old is starting ahead of Raul Jimenez and Armando Broja. But while his form has seemingly come out of nowhere, becoming Fulham’s main man took time.

The Brazilian made only two starts in Fulham’s Championship-winning season of 2021-22, spending last term on loan at Middlesbrough, where Michael Carrick often did not even name him in his matchday squads.

Last summer, Marco Silva encouraged him to go out on loan in Brazil, but Muniz stayed. After Fulham sold Aleksandar Mitrovic to Al-Hilal last summer, Silva rotated Jimenez, Carlos Vinicius and Muniz in the early months of the season.

On his first start in November against Manchester United, Muniz left the pitch in tears with a knee injury that threatened to delay his progress.

When he got back fit, though, a hamstring injury to Jimenez gave him an opportunity which he has seized. He has scored a wide variety of goals and become a much greater physical presence.

Fulham were expected to re-enter the market for a striker this summer, but if Muniz keeps scoring, they might not need to

Fulham staff have been surprised with how quickly his English is progressing, while fans have taken immediately to his upbeat nature.

Muniz’s goals have caught the eye, but his all-round game has improved, too. He is winning more aerial duels, holding the ball up better and developing a sixth sense for where to position himself in the box.

Fulham were expected to re-enter the market for a striker this summer, but if Muniz keeps scoring, they might not need to.

After Brazil manager Dorival Junior visited Fulham’s training ground in February to watch Muniz and Andreas Pereira, he called up Pereira but overlooked Muniz.

“When I say I work a lot, I work a lot. I need to play like today every day, because the Brazil call-up is coming,” he said after the Spurs game.

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