When it comes to footloose and fancy-free Brazilian strikers, they don't come any more transient than a certain Danilo Pereira da Silva. Born on 7 April 1999, proving that he successfully survived the overhyped 'millennium bug', our friend Danilo stands at 5ft 8in (or 1.74m for those of you who've gleefully embraced the metric system). Weighing in at a lean 11st 9lb (or 74kg for the aforementioned metric enthusiasts), Danilo trots out onto the pitch sporting the rather audacious number 99 on his jersey. Contemporary, eh?
Let's take a journey through Danilo's past. In August 2017, he embarked on his first big adventure, leaving his homeland and the warm embrace of Santos in Brazil's Série B for the cold, tulip-lined fields of Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie. The cost for this privilege? Oh, a mere £1.8m. You know, the kind of money you find under your sofa cushions. In his first two seasons at Ajax, Danilo managed to charm the coach into letting him onto the pitch 14 times in league matches, even managing to put the ball in the net twice. The joys of youth.
In August 2020, presumably having tired of Ajax's team colours or perhaps the tulip pollen was getting to him, Danilo switched briefly to FC Twente, also in the Eredivisie on loan, where he made 33 league appearances and actually remembered he was a striker by scoring 17 goals. Some might call it a fluke; I call it a glimpse of potential.
In a move that still thrills no one, Danilo returned damp and possibly a touch gloomy from his loan spell at FC Twente in June 2021. Yet his glow of youth wasn't entirely extinguished as he managed another 13 appearances and 2 goals for his club. A spark in the darkness, you might say.
Come July 2022, Danilo was off again, this time to Feyenoord, with no fee mentioned, which I'm sure hurt his ego. Nonetheless, he put on a decent show there, with 34 first team appearances and ten goals. Decent for a Brazilian striker not plying his trade in a beach football league.
In an agonisingly predictable move in July 2023, Danilo finally gave in to the siren song of Scottish football and swapped the technical, intricate game of the Eredivisie for the raw grit of Scottish Premiership, signing for Rangers for £6m.
So now he's pounding our pitches, wracking up 23 first team games and 9 goals across two seasons. He's also had cameos in the League Cup and Europa League, proving that he can just about cope in different competitions. Still only 25, there's certainly room for more chapters in this tale, though whether they'll be memorable is anyone's guess.
