Savinho — full name Sávio Moreira de Oliveira — is a 21-year-old Brazilian winger currently playing for Manchester City in the Premier League, having joined the club on 18 July 2024 from fellow City Football Group club Troyes for an initial fee of £21 million (€25 million), potentially rising to £33.6 million with add-ons. Born on 10 April 2004 in São Mateus, Espírito Santo, Brazil, he rose to prominence during a breakthrough loan spell at Girona in La Liga in 2023–24, contributing 9 goals and 10 assists in 37 games and helping the Spanish club qualify for the Champions League for the first time in their history. He signed a new contract with City until June 2031 on 3 October 2025 — spurning reported interest from Tottenham Hotspur — and in his debut 2024–25 Premier League season made 48 appearances under Pep Guardiola, scoring 3 goals and registering 13 assists. Girona manager Michel compared him to Vinícius Júnior, calling him the most destabilising one-on-one talent he had seen since the Real Madrid star arrived in Spain. In this comprehensive guide you will find everything about Savinho — his early life in Brazil, his route through the City Football Group, his Girona breakthrough, his Manchester City career, his Brazil international record, his contract situation, his transfer news, his playing style, Guardiola’s assessment of him, and what the 2026 summer window might hold.
Who Is Savinho?
Background and Early Identity
Savinho is among the most exciting young wide players to have arrived in the Premier League in recent years — a Brazilian winger who combines searing pace, devastating dribbling ability in 1v1 situations, and the kind of natural directness that creates immediate danger every time he receives the ball in the final third. He is left-footed, plays primarily on the left wing but is equally capable on the right, and has been compared throughout his development career to Vinícius Júnior — Real Madrid’s Brazilian superstar — by coaches who have worked with him at close range. That comparison carries weight: Girona manager Michel, who has extensive La Liga experience, made it not as hype but as a sober technical assessment after watching Savinho train and play week in, week out across an entire season.
His story is one of the more unusual in modern football. Despite being owned by Manchester City’s parent group since 2022, he spent two years on loan — first at PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie, then at Girona in La Liga — before eventually arriving at the Etihad Stadium as a permanent first-team player in the summer of 2024. The route through the City Football Group’s development ecosystem gave him something relatively rare among Premier League attackers of his age: genuine competitive experience across three top leagues before arriving in England, a level of exposure to different football cultures and tactical environments that has clearly contributed to his adaptability and composure.
His personal life adds a further dimension to his biography that is unusual for a 21-year-old professional footballer. He proposed to his childhood sweetheart Anna Carolina Barbosa when he was eighteen years old and married her a year later, making him one of the youngest married players in the Premier League. His wife is a physiotherapist — a detail that reflects the rootedness and family stability that characterise his off-field life and that have been credited by those around him as a positive influence on his professional development and mental resilience.
Early Life: São Mateus to Belo Horizonte
Growing Up on the Farm
Sávio Moreira de Oliveira was born on 10 April 2004 in São Mateus, a municipality in the state of Espírito Santo in the southeastern region of Brazil. He was raised on his grandparents’ farm — a rural upbringing significantly different from the urban football academies that produce many Brazilian players, and one that he has spoken about with evident pride and affection. The farm childhood gave him a physical hardiness and a grounded perspective that colleagues and coaches have noted as unusual for a player of his profile; elite-level talent that emerges from rural or working-class backgrounds in Brazil often carries a specific kind of hunger and resilience that more comfortably positioned prospects may not develop to the same degree.
Football was his path from early childhood, and his ability was apparent from a very young age. He developed through local football in Espírito Santo before the quality of his play attracted the attention of Atlético Mineiro — one of Brazil’s most historically significant and currently most successful clubs, based in Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais state. The recruitment of Savinho to the Atlético Mineiro youth academy at under-14 level was a significant moment in his development: it brought him from the rural southeast into contact with professional standards, elite-level coaching, and the competitive environment of one of Brazil’s major clubs.
Atlético Mineiro Youth Career
Savinho joined Atlético Mineiro at the under-14 youth level, where he quickly drew attention for the specific combination of pace, close control, and direct dribbling that would later define his senior profile. He progressed rapidly through the academy structure and signed his first professional contract with Atlético Mineiro on 18 June 2020 — at just sixteen years old — securing a three-year deal that included a release clause of €60 million, a figure that reflected the club’s high assessment of his potential even at that very early stage.
His youth career was decorated with representative honours. He was called up by the Brazilian Under-15 team to participate in the South American Championship, where he emerged as a champion. He subsequently represented Brazil at Under-17 and Under-20 levels before earning his senior debut in 2024, making him a representative at multiple levels of the Brazilian international programme from his mid-teens. His performance at the 2023 Under-20 World Cup in Argentina — where he won the CONMEBOL U20 Championship with the national team — was among the performances that cemented his reputation as one of the most exciting young Brazilian attackers of his generation.
First-Team Breakthrough at Atlético Mineiro
With strong performances for Atlético Mineiro’s reserve and transition teams, Savinho was integrated into the professional squad structure in 2020 and began training regularly with the first team. He made his senior competitive debut for Atlético Mineiro in 2021, appearing in the Brazilian Serie A and the Campeonato Mineiro state championship. His senior debut season produced 5 appearances in Serie A, contributing 1 assist, and 2 appearances in the Campeonato Mineiro — modest numbers but meaningful debut contributions for a seventeen-year-old in one of South America’s most demanding league environments.
The 2022 season added further competitive experience: 8 Serie A appearances with 1 goal, building on a 2021 career that included notable collective success — Atlético Mineiro won the Brazilian Serie A title in 2021, the Copa do Brasil in 2021, the Supercopa do Brasil in 2022, and the Campeonato Mineiro in both 2021 and 2022. Savinho was part of those title-winning squads, giving him early-career exposure to silverware and the standards that winning clubs demand, even before his European adventure began.
The City Football Group Pathway
The €6.5 Million Transfer to Troyes
On 30 June 2022, Atlético Mineiro announced the transfer of Savinho to the City Football Group for a record fee of €6.5 million, with an additional €6 million in performance-related variables — a total potential outlay of €12.5 million for an eighteen-year-old Brazilian winger who had fewer than thirty senior appearances to his name. The fee reflected the City Football Group’s intelligence about the player (they had tracked him extensively through their global scouting network) and their willingness to invest significantly in young talent that their development ecosystem was designed to bring to fruition.
Savinho was initially assigned to Troyes — a Ligue 1 club in France that is part of the City Football Group’s ownership network. He never made a competitive appearance for Troyes. The French side struggled severely in this period, nearly suffering consecutive relegations (to Ligue 2 and then to the Championnat National, the latter only avoided due to Bordeaux’s administrative relegation for financial issues), and the club’s instability led to fan disillusionment and backlash against the City Group ownership. In this context, Savinho’s non-appearance for Troyes was pragmatic rather than developmental: he was simply sent out on loan immediately to a more suitable environment.
Loan to PSV Eindhoven (2022–23)
On 22 July 2022, Savinho joined PSV Eindhoven on loan for the 2022–23 season — a move into one of Europe’s more reputable development environments. PSV, the Eredivisie giants based in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, have a strong history of developing young wingers and attacking players, and the loan was designed to give Savinho regular European football. The reality was more complicated: he made only 6 appearances in the Eredivisie first team and 9 appearances for Jong PSV (the reserve/B team) in the Eerste Divisie, scoring 2 goals at reserve level. He also appeared in the Europa League for PSV’s first team.
The PSV loan was not a success in terms of playing time or first-team integration, and Girona manager Michel later recalled that his club’s scouting team had been drawn to Savinho specifically because his PSV spell had left him “not happy” — the Portuguese term used in Michel’s account suggesting a player whose frustration at limited opportunities had sharpened his desire and created the conditions for the kind of performance surge that exceptional talent sometimes produces when given the right platform. His Under-20 World Cup performances for Brazil during this period were the best evidence that his ability was not diminished by his PSV experience; it was simply waiting for the right context to fully emerge.
Breakthrough Loan at Girona (2023–24)
On 13 July 2023, Savinho moved to La Liga side Girona on loan for the 2023–24 season — a move that would transform his career and his public profile entirely. Girona, a small Catalan club based in the city of the same name, had been acquired by the City Football Group in 2017 and were in the process of becoming one of the most surprising and compelling stories in European football under the management of Michel and with the financial and structural support of the CFG. In 2023–24, they would finish third in La Liga — their highest-ever league position — and qualify for the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Savinho was central to that achievement. In 37 La Liga appearances he contributed 9 goals and 10 assists — extraordinary numbers for a nineteen-year-old left winger competing in one of Europe’s three strongest leagues. His Copa del Rey record added 2 more goals in 4 appearances. His Soccerway rating for the Girona La Liga season was 7.4 — one of the highest individual player ratings in the competition that year. Michel’s assessment — “since Vinicius Junior’s arrival in Spain, I don’t think I have seen a one-on-one talent as destabilising as him” — was not merely coaching praise for a loan player but an assessment that made headlines across European football and confirmed that Savinho had arrived, finally, as a genuine top-level talent on the continental stage.
The Girona spell also produced Savinho’s first senior Brazil international caps. He made his senior debut against England in March 2024, and was subsequently called up for the Copa América 2024 in the United States, where he scored his first senior international goal in a 4–1 group stage win against Paraguay. The Copa América appearance confirmed his standing in the Brazilian national team picture and aligned perfectly with the timing of Manchester City’s decision to bring him to the Etihad permanently.
Manchester City: The Etihad Chapter
The £21 Million Transfer
Manchester City officially announced the signing of Savinho from Troyes on 18 July 2024, making him the club’s first summer signing of that window. The transfer fee was an initial £21 million (€25 million), potentially rising to £33.6 million (€40 million) with performance-related add-ons, and he was given the squad number 26. He signed an initial contract until 2029, subsequently extended to 2031 in October 2025.
The transaction’s structure was notable for several reasons. Technically, Savinho moved from Troyes — his parent club since 2022 — rather than from Girona, where he had spent the previous season. This was significant for UEFA multi-club ownership rules: Girona had also qualified for the Champions League in 2024–25 (as a result of their La Liga third-place finish), and UEFA regulations prevent clubs with the same owners from competing against each other in the same European competition through player transfers between them. Since Troyes was the parent club and was not competing in any UEFA competition, the transfer did not violate these rules — though it attracted criticism from some corners of football fandom who felt it represented an exploitation of a loophole. City maintained throughout that all regulatory requirements had been met.
Guardiola’s public reaction to the signing was enthusiastic. He described Savinho as a player who would bolster his options on the left wing, competing with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, and Jérémy Doku for starting positions, and expressed confidence in his ability to develop further under the training conditions and tactical environment at City. Txiki Begiristain, the outgoing director of football who oversaw the signing, described him as a “very exciting player” who had achieved something “remarkable” at Girona and who had the potential to become “even better.”
Debut Season: 2024–25
Savinho’s debut season at Manchester City — 2024–25 — was one of mixed performance from the team overall (it was City’s worst Premier League points tally under Guardiola and a trophyless season) but notably positive from the individual perspective of the Brazilian winger. He made 48 appearances under Guardiola across all competitions — a remarkable figure for a twenty-year-old new signing at one of Europe’s most demanding clubs — scoring 3 goals and providing 13 assists in a contribution that placed him among the most creative providers in the Premier League that season.
His Soccerway Premier League rating of 7.2 across 29 appearances was extremely positive for a player adapting to England’s intensity while simultaneously competing in the Champions League. His assists total of 8 in the Premier League alone made him one of the top creative contributors at City in a campaign where many of their attacking players were inconsistent. He made his Champions League debut with City, contributed to their FA Cup and EFL Cup campaigns, and represented Brazil internationally, scoring 1 goal in 1 Champions League appearance and adding 1 more in the FIFA Club World Cup. The season confirmed what Girona had suggested: Savinho’s quality was not a Ligue 1 or La Liga mirage but a genuine top-level reality.
Guardiola’s public assessment of his debut season was characteristically direct: “His numbers for goals and assists last season — Savinho created a lot, and in the final third, [he needs to] be active in the right moment. The moment he does that, he’s young, he will be a top-class player. He will make this step — it will come. Savinho will be a top player for Man City.”
The New Contract: Extending to 2031
On 3 October 2025, Manchester City announced that Savinho had signed a new contract extending his stay at the Etihad Stadium until June 2031 — a deal that ended the uncertainty generated by his reported interest in a move away from the club over the summer of 2025. The summer window had seen Tottenham Hotspur make an approach for the winger, with reports suggesting that Spurs were willing to pay approximately £43 million — a figure that City, who valued Savinho at significantly more than that, refused to accept. Guardiola was reported to have personally intervened to block the transfer, indicating his strong desire to keep the young Brazilian at the club.
Savinho’s own response to the new contract was revealing: “I’m really happy and my family is also very happy. I feel fulfilled. My dream since I was little was always to play for Manchester City, and I managed to achieve that. And now, extending my contract here makes it even more special.” The statement confirmed that his desire to stay at City was genuine rather than reluctant — he had always aspired to play for them, and the chance to build a long-term career at the Etihad was one he was genuinely invested in.
City’s Director of Football Hugo Viana — who had replaced Txiki Begiristain in the summer of 2025 as part of a leadership transition prompted by City’s difficult 2024–25 season — described Savinho’s potential as “limitless”: “He has so many excellent attributes. His potential really is limitless. He has superb natural ability, works incredibly hard day in, day out, and he is humble. He is very eager to keep learning and help the team, and his ambition is to be one of the best attacking players in the game.”
2025–26 Season and the Competition Problem
The 2025–26 season has been a more challenging one for Savinho in terms of playing time. Manchester City’s summer 2025 transfer window was extremely active: the club brought in Rayan Aït-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Marcus Bettinelli, James Trafford, Sverre Nypan, and Gianluigi Donnarumma — a group of arrivals that significantly deepened the squad’s quality across multiple positions. In the attacking department specifically, the arrival of Rayan Cherki — the French attacking midfielder from Lyon — provided direct competition for the creative central positions where Savinho is most effective.
As of mid-March 2026, Savinho has recorded 0 goals and 1 assist in 17 Premier League appearances, with a FotMob rating of 6.53 and 565 minutes played — figures that indicate he has been used primarily as a substitute rather than a regular starter. However, in other competitions his numbers are more positive: he scored in the FA Cup (rating 8.9 in 1 appearance), contributed twice in the EFL Cup (rating 8.0 in 2 appearances), and appeared 7 times in the Champions League. The addition of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth in the January 2026 window for £64 million further complicated Savinho’s path to regular starting opportunities, and Football Insider reported in March 2026 that City could consider letting him leave if they add further attacking options in the summer.
The tension between Guardiola’s genuine admiration for Savinho and the structural reality of a squad that contains Jérémy Doku, Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden, Antoine Semenyo, and Erling Haaland in attacking positions is the central challenge of his 2025–26 situation. He remains contracted until 2031, his talent is undisputed, and his potential is widely considered extraordinary — the question is whether he will fulfil that potential at the Etihad or at another club where first-team football is more readily available.
Playing Style and Strengths
The Winger’s Profile
Savinho is a left-footed winger who plays primarily on the left side but is comfortable operating on the right — a versatility that Guardiola specifically praised in his assessment of the player ahead of the new contract announcement. His primary asset is his directness: he is a player who wants to receive the ball in 1v1 situations and take on his defender, using a combination of explosive pace over short distances, excellent close control, and deceptive body movement to beat opponents consistently. His profile is closely analogous to Vinícius Júnior’s, and the comparison — made initially by Michel and since repeated by multiple coaches and analysts — is a technically valid one rather than simple hyperbole.
At 176 centimetres and 66 kilograms, Savinho is compact and well-balanced — physically capable of maintaining his dribbling effectiveness even when defenders attempt to physicality him off the ball, but not a traditional aerial or physical presence. His left foot is his primary attacking weapon, but reports from Transfermarkt list him as capable with both feet, and his ability to shift the ball onto his right when defenders expect left-footed play adds an important element of unpredictability to his game. His shooting from outside the box is a genuine threat, and his delivery into the penalty area — whether by cross or cutback — was one of the primary drivers of his 13-assist debut Premier League season.
Defensive Contribution and Work Rate
One of the less-discussed but genuinely important dimensions of Savinho’s game is his defensive contribution. For a player as offensively oriented as he is, his willingness to press from the front, track back, and engage in defensive duels reflects the tactical demands that both Guardiola’s City system and Michel’s Girona had placed on their wide players, and his internalisation of those demands. Modern elite wingers at the highest clubs are not permitted the luxury of a purely offensive role, and Savinho’s adaptation to the pressing demands of Premier League football — while still developing — has been noted positively by City’s coaching staff.
His FotMob ratings across different campaigns tell an instructive story: 7.4 at Girona in La Liga (2023–24), 7.2 in the Premier League for City (2024–25), and 6.53 in the Premier League for City (2025–26) — a progression that reflects both his extraordinary Girona breakthrough and the more variable and competitive situation he has found himself in at a club competing at the very highest level across multiple fronts. The Girona number, in context, is particularly remarkable: 7.4 as a nineteen-year-old in La Liga, contributing to a historic third-place finish, is the kind of individual performance data that genuinely establishes a player’s credentials at the elite level.
Comparable Players and Development Trajectory
The development trajectory that Savinho appears to be on — extraordinary La Liga breakthrough at nineteen, solid Premier League debut at twenty, consolidating at twenty-one while competing for places in one of the world’s most demanding squads — is consistent with the paths taken by several of the most successful attacking players of the current generation. Vinícius Júnior himself had variable periods at Real Madrid before establishing himself as one of the world’s best; Lamine Yamal at Barcelona is following a not-dissimilar explosive early curve; and the City Football Group’s own development record — Phil Foden is the obvious internal example — suggests that the structured environment Savinho inhabits is designed precisely to produce the kind of sustained improvement that his potential demands.
Guardiola’s specific language about Savinho — “he will make this step, it will come” — is the language of a manager with a clear developmental vision for a specific player, not the vague encouragement of someone managing expectations. The fact that City were willing to pay £43 million — or significantly more, given their reported rejection of Spurs’ approach at that price — is the most tangible indicator of his perceived value.
The City Football Group: Savinho’s Development Engine
How the CFG Pipeline Works
The City Football Group (CFG) is the global multi-club ownership network controlled by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour through his holding company. Founded with Manchester City as its flagship club, the CFG encompasses clubs across multiple continents including New York City FC (USA), Melbourne City (Australia), Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), Girona FC (Spain), and ESTAC Troyes (France), among others. The network functions as a global talent pipeline — identifying young players in emerging football markets, signing them to the group’s clubs, and developing them through a structured pathway designed to eventually bring the best to Manchester City.
Savinho’s journey is the most prominent recent example of the CFG pipeline operating at its most effective. He was identified in Brazil, signed to Troyes (the group’s French base) in 2022, loaned to PSV for Eredivisie experience, moved to Girona for the La Liga breakthrough that confirmed his elite potential, and then brought to Manchester City as the natural endpoint. The total investment — €6.5 million to Atlético Mineiro in 2022, plus development costs across three clubs, plus the internal transfer fee of €25 million from Troyes to City in 2024 — represents a highly efficient deployment of capital to develop a player now valued at €60–73 million. His transfer attracted criticism around multi-club ownership rules and the technical structuring required to move him from Girona (also in the Champions League) to City via Troyes — but the sporting outcome of a world-class talent developed at high speed is difficult to dispute.
Phil Foden as the Internal Template
The most instructive internal comparison for Savinho’s potential trajectory is Phil Foden — the Stockport-born attacking midfielder who joined City’s academy as a child, spent several years as an intermittent contributor before breaking through as a regular starter in 2020–21, and became one of the most decorated players in Premier League history. Foden’s patience in development, his willingness to wait for his opportunity, and his ultimate emergence as a world-class player under Guardiola’s specific coaching system are the template City point to when explaining their confidence in Savinho’s eventual emergence.
Guardiola has managed this story before. His confidence in Savinho’s “step” is grounded in that experience — in having watched Phil Foden develop from a youth player to a Ballon d’Or contender within the same system, the same training environment, and the same management philosophy that now surrounds Savinho every day. Whether patience will ultimately be rewarded at the Etihad or whether the playing time reality will eventually drive Savinho to another club for his peak years, the developmental logic is clear: Guardiola believes he has the talent, and he has seen what his system can do with talent like it.
Personal Life: Marriage, Roots, and Values
Anna Carolina and Early Marriage
Savinho’s decision to propose to Anna Carolina Barbosa at the age of eighteen — while still a teenager at the very beginning of a major professional career — reflects the strength of his personal roots and the stability of his family values. Anna, a physiotherapist, has been by his side throughout the most significant transitions of his football life: the move from Brazil to Europe, the PSV spell, the Girona breakthrough, the Manchester City signing. Her professional background in physiotherapy is particularly relevant in a football context, where injury management and physical welfare are central to career longevity.
In a sport where stories of personal instability are common at the elite level, Savinho’s settled family life — married at nineteen — stands out as an unusual foundation for a Premier League career. Coaches and former colleagues have noted the emotional stability that his personal life appears to provide as a genuine contributor to his professional resilience and consistency. The ability to handle the pressures of a move to one of the world’s biggest clubs, a difficult debut season from a playing time perspective, and the ongoing scrutiny that accompanies high-value status at a high-profile club is considerably greater when those pressures are met by a stable and supportive home environment. His wife Anna’s presence throughout his European journey — from the Netherlands to Spain to Manchester — speaks to a partnership that has been genuinely portable and genuinely sustaining.
Brazilian Identity and Faith
Savinho has maintained a strong connection to his origins — the farm in São Mateus, the state of Espírito Santo — throughout his transition from Brazilian boy to Manchester City winger. He has spoken about the importance of his faith, which manifests in goal celebrations and public acknowledgements of divine support that reflect both the personal conviction and the broader cultural identity of Brazilian football’s connection to religious practice. Like many Brazilian footballers at the elite level, he finds in faith both a personal resource and a connection to the community values of his upbringing — a thread of continuity between the farm in Espírito Santo and the Premier League.
His Copa América 2024 goal against Paraguay was celebrated with the uninhibited joy of genuine national pride — not a contractual performance but an authentic expression of what it meant to score for Brazil on the continental stage. The exclusion from Carlo Ancelotti’s October 2025 squad generated controversy, but his public response was measured and professional, reflecting the same emotional intelligence that has characterised his navigation of other challenges in his career. His stated ambition — to help Brazil win trophies and to put himself among the best attacking players in the game — is not merely aspirational language but a driver that has been consistent from his earliest interviews.
Why Savinho Matters: The Bigger Picture
The 21-Year-Old Who Belongs at the Top Table
Savinho’s presence in the Premier League — at Manchester City, at 21, contracted until 2031, compared to Vinícius Júnior, valued at €66 million — is a statement about the current state of elite football development as much as it is about his individual talent. A player born in rural southeastern Brazil in 2004, spotted by one of the world’s most sophisticated scouting networks, developed through three different European football cultures, and now competing in the Premier League and Champions League at 21 is the product of a specific kind of football intelligence: patient, structured, long-range developmental thinking applied with significant resources and genuine analytical rigour.
His story also illustrates something important about what it takes to succeed in modern elite football beyond raw talent. Savinho had all the talent in the world when he arrived at PSV and barely played. The difference between PSV and Girona — both objectively good clubs, both offering competitive football — was not the level of competition but the context: at Girona, with Michel’s clear-eyed understanding of what the player could provide and a system built to maximise his specific strengths, the talent found its environment and produced the results that brought him to the Etihad. Context is not everything in football, but for players of Savinho’s profile — the raw, direct, individually decisive winger — it may be close to everything. Finding the right manager, the right system, and the right moment is what transforms potential into performance.
Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola and the resources of the City Football Group, represent the most demanding possible test of whether Savinho’s talent can operate at the absolute elite level week in, week out, across multiple competitions, against the best defensive talent in the world. The 2024–25 season suggested it can. The 2025–26 season has been more complicated. The summer of 2026 will provide the next decisive chapter — whether that is Savinho breaking through as a first-choice starter at the Etihad, or moving to a club where the path to regular football is clearer. Either way, the trajectory points to one of European football’s most exciting players of the late 2020s.
Senior Debut and Copa América
Savinho made his senior debut for Brazil in March 2024, in a friendly against England at Wembley Stadium — a high-profile occasion that reflected his established place in the international pecking order even before his move to Manchester City had been confirmed. The England game gave him his first senior international experience against top-tier European opposition, and his performance confirmed the confidence that Brazil’s national team management had placed in him by selecting him for the squad.
His Copa América 2024 participation was the centrepiece of his first senior international summer. Brazil competed in the tournament held across the United States, and Savinho scored his first senior international goal in the group stage — a 4–1 win against Paraguay — a result that gave him an outstanding memory of his first major tournament experience. He was subsequently excluded from Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil squad for the October 2025 international windows, a selection decision that generated some controversy given his consistent performances for Manchester City across the previous season.
Youth International Record
Before his senior debut, Savinho had an exceptional youth international record for Brazil. He won the South American Under-15 Championship with the Brazilian U-15 team — one of the most competitive youth tournaments in South American football. He represented Brazil at Under-17 level before progressing to the Under-20 team, with whom he won the CONMEBOL U-20 Championship in 2023 in Colombia — another continental title that added to an impressive early international trophy cabinet. His Under-20 World Cup performances were specifically cited by Girona’s sporting department as the basis for their decision to pursue him as a loan target, confirming that his youth international performances were a genuine indicator of senior-level ability rather than merely youth football dominance.
Transfer News: What’s Next?
The Summer 2026 Situation
The most pressing question around Savinho’s future as of mid-March 2026 concerns whether he will remain at Manchester City beyond the summer of 2026. Despite his contract running until 2031, the combination of limited playing time in the 2025–26 season and City’s continued squad investment — including Antoine Semenyo’s £64 million January arrival — has created genuine uncertainty about his role at the club going forward. Football Insider reported in March 2026, citing sources close to the club, that City could consider selling Savinho if they add further attacking options in the summer, and that Tottenham Hotspur remain keen on acquiring a wide forward despite their failed summer 2025 approach.
City’s public position, as articulated by Guardiola’s statements and the October 2025 contract extension, is that Savinho is an important part of their plans and they intend to keep him. The private reality, reported by Sky Sports News, is that his path to regular starting football at City remains blocked by a collection of attacking options of exceptional quality — and that the addition of Semenyo has made the competition even more intense. If the summer 2026 window sees City continue their squad transformation with further attacking arrivals, the economics of Savinho’s position (a £43 million-plus asset sitting on the bench) may override the stated desire to retain him.
Transfer Value
Savinho’s estimated transfer value as of March 2026 is approximately €66.6 million (ETV range €60 million to €73.3 million), according to FootballTransfers. Transfermarkt’s March 2026 update lists his market value at approximately €40.3 million — a more conservative estimate that reflects his reduced playing time in the current season. The disparity between the two estimates reflects the inherent difficulty of valuing a player whose underlying talent is elite-level but whose current playing time is limited. Clubs considering a summer approach for Savinho will likely point to the playing time data to negotiate a lower fee; City will point to his potential and his 2024–25 production numbers to defend a premium price.
Career Statistics Summary
Full Career Record to March 2026
Savinho’s career statistics across all clubs and competitions to mid-March 2026 reflect a player who has accumulated meaningful senior experience at a young age across multiple leagues:
Atlético Mineiro (2021–22): 13 appearances, 1 goal — Brazilian Serie A and state championship football, with collective success including the 2021 Serie A title, Copa do Brasil, and Supercopa do Brasil.
Jong PSV (2022–23): 9 appearances, 2 goals — Eerste Divisie (Dutch reserve league).
PSV Eindhoven (2022–23): 6 Eredivisie appearances, 0 goals, 2 assists — plus Europa League appearances. A quiet first European season that provided valuable experience despite limited output.
Girona (2023–24): 37 La Liga appearances, 9 goals, 10 assists (Soccerway rating 7.4); 4 Copa del Rey appearances, 2 goals — the career-defining breakthrough season, concluding with Girona’s historic Champions League qualification.
Manchester City (2024–25): 48 total appearances (29 Premier League, 9 Champions League, 4 FA Cup, 2 EFL Cup, 1 Community Shield, 3 Club World Cup); 3 goals, 13+ assists in all competitions (8 Premier League assists); FotMob Premier League rating 7.2.
Manchester City (2025–26 to March 2026): 17 Premier League appearances, 0 goals, 1 assist, 565 minutes; 7 Champions League appearances; 1 FA Cup goal (rating 8.9); 2 EFL Cup goals (rating 8.0).
Brazil senior international: 8+ caps, 1 goal (Copa América 2024 vs Paraguay).
Trophies: Brazilian Serie A (2021), Copa do Brasil (2021), Campeonato Mineiro (2021, 2022), Supercopa do Brasil (2022), PSV Super Cup (2022–23), KNVB Cup (2022–23), CONMEBOL U-20 Championship (2023), Community Shield (2024–25).
Practical Guide: Following Savinho
Watching Savinho Live
Manchester City’s home matches are played at the Etihad Stadium — City of Manchester Stadium — located in the Eastlands area of east Manchester, at Etihad Campus, Manchester, M11 3FF. The stadium has a capacity of 53,400 following its most recent expansion and is one of the most modern and well-appointed sports arenas in Europe. Home Premier League matches, Champions League ties, and domestic cup games are all played at the Etihad. The nearest Metrolink tram stop to the Etihad is the Etihad Campus stop on the Ashton-under-Lyne line, approximately five minutes’ walk from the stadium. From Manchester city centre (Piccadilly Gardens), the journey by Metrolink takes approximately 15 minutes.
Manchester City Premier League match tickets are sold through the official Manchester City website (mancity.com) via a priority and membership scheme. Category A matches (top six opponents) typically range from approximately £35 to £80 for adults, while Category C matches may be available from approximately £25. Away supporter allocations at the Etihad are positioned in the South Stand and are allocated through visiting clubs’ ticketing systems. Savinho wears the number 26 shirt at Manchester City.
Watching on Television
Manchester City’s Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, and EFL Cup matches are broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports, TNT Sports, and Amazon Prime Video. Sky Sports covers the majority of City’s domestic fixtures; TNT Sports (previously BT Sport) covers the Champions League. Sky Sports packages start from approximately £25 per month; TNT Sports is available through BT broadband packages or as a standalone sports add-on. Highlights of Manchester City matches are available free on the Premier League’s official YouTube channel within 24 hours of the final whistle.
For international viewers, Manchester City matches are broadcast through the Premier League’s international broadcast partners in each territory. The Champions League is available on local broadcasters depending on the region. Manchester City’s official YouTube channel (ManCity) provides regular player feature content, training footage, and interview segments that include Savinho material.
Following Savinho on Social Media
Savinho is active on Instagram under his official account, where he shares match content, training footage, and personal moments. Manchester City’s official accounts — @mancity on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram — regularly feature Savinho in their content, including match highlights, training footage, and profile pieces. For the most current transfer news and performance data, reliable sources include Fabrizio Romano (transfer updates), FotMob (real-time statistics and ratings), and Transfermarkt (career data and market value).
FAQs
Who is Savinho?
Savinho — full name Sávio Moreira de Oliveira — is a 21-year-old Brazilian left winger currently playing for Manchester City in the Premier League. Born on 10 April 2004 in São Mateus, Espírito Santo, Brazil, he rose to prominence during a breakthrough loan spell at Girona in La Liga in 2023–24 (9 goals, 10 assists in 37 games) before joining Manchester City permanently on 18 July 2024. He signed a new contract until June 2031 in October 2025 and has been compared to Vinícius Júnior by coaches including former Girona manager Michel.
How much did Manchester City pay for Savinho?
Manchester City paid an initial fee of £21 million (€25 million) for Savinho, with the deal potentially rising to £33.6 million (€40 million) with performance-related add-ons. He joined from Troyes — a French club within the City Football Group — on 18 July 2024. His current estimated transfer value is approximately €60–73 million according to FootballTransfers (March 2026), significantly above the fee City paid.
What is Savinho’s contract length at Manchester City?
Savinho signed a new long-term contract with Manchester City on 3 October 2025, extending his deal until June 2031. He had originally signed a contract until 2029 when he joined City in July 2024. The contract extension came after City resisted interest from Tottenham Hotspur during the summer 2025 transfer window. The new deal reportedly includes a release clause that could allow him to leave under specific circumstances.
What are Savinho’s stats at Manchester City?
In his debut 2024–25 season, Savinho made 48 total appearances for Manchester City, scoring 3 goals and providing 13 assists across all competitions, with 8 assists in the Premier League alone (FotMob rating 7.2 across 29 PL appearances). In 2025–26 (to mid-March 2026), he has 0 goals and 1 assist in 17 Premier League appearances, with further contributions in the FA Cup (1 goal, rating 8.9), EFL Cup (2 goals, rating 8.0), and Champions League (7 appearances). His career Girona stats were 9 goals and 10 assists in 37 La Liga appearances (Soccerway rating 7.4).
How old is Savinho and where is he from?
Savinho was born on 10 April 2004, making him 21 years old as of mid-2025. He was born in São Mateus, Espírito Santo, Brazil, and was raised on his grandparents’ farm. He is a Brazilian national and represents the Brazil senior international team. He is left-footed, stands 176 centimetres tall, and weighs approximately 66 kilograms.
Is Savinho leaving Manchester City?
As of mid-March 2026, Savinho has not been officially confirmed as leaving Manchester City and remains contracted until June 2031. However, Football Insider reported in March 2026 that City could consider selling him if they add further attacking options in the summer. Tottenham Hotspur reportedly remain interested in signing him. His limited playing time in 2025–26 — 565 minutes in the Premier League — and the arrival of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth in January 2026 have increased uncertainty around his long-term role at the club. Manchester City’s stated public position is that they want to keep him.
What squad number does Savinho wear?
Savinho wears the number 26 shirt at Manchester City. He was assigned the number 26 when he joined the club in July 2024 and has kept it through the 2025–26 season. At Girona he wore the number 17 shirt.
What trophies has Savinho won?
Savinho has won eleven career trophies: Brazilian Serie A (2021), Copa do Brasil (2021), Campeonato Mineiro (2021, 2022), Supercopa do Brasil (2022), PSV Super Cup (2022–23), KNVB Cup (2022–23), Premier League International Cup with PSV U21 (2022–23), CONMEBOL U-20 Championship with Brazil U-20 (2023), and the Community Shield (2024–25) with Manchester City. He also participated in the FIFA Club World Cup with City in 2025.
Who compared Savinho to Vinícius Júnior?
Girona manager Michel made the most prominent comparison between Savinho and Vinícius Júnior, stating during the 2023–24 La Liga season: “Since Vinicius Junior’s arrival in Spain, I don’t think I have seen a one-on-one talent as destabilising as him.” Michel had extensive La Liga experience and made this assessment as a sober technical judgment rather than promotional hype. He also said of Savinho when he saw him at his first Girona training session: “We’re gonna play in Europe next season. He’s special.”
What did Pep Guardiola say about Savinho?
Pep Guardiola has consistently praised Savinho while acknowledging areas for improvement. At the time of Savinho’s contract extension in October 2025, Guardiola said: “His numbers for goals and assists last season — Savinho created a lot, and in the final third, [he needs to] be active in the right moment. The moment he does that, he’s young, he will be a top-class player. He will make this step — it will come. Savinho will be a top player for Man City.” Guardiola was also reported to have personally blocked Savinho’s move to Tottenham during the summer 2025 window, indicating his genuine desire to retain the player.
Did Savinho play for Girona?
Yes. Savinho spent the 2023–24 season on loan at Girona in La Liga, playing 37 league games and contributing 9 goals and 10 assists as Girona finished third in La Liga — their highest-ever league position — and qualified for the Champions League for the first time. He also scored 2 goals in 4 Copa del Rey appearances. His Soccerway rating of 7.4 across the La Liga season was one of the highest individual player ratings in the competition. His Girona performances were the direct reason Manchester City moved to bring him to the Premier League.
Is Savinho married?
Yes. Savinho proposed to his childhood sweetheart Anna Carolina Barbosa when he was eighteen years old and they married one year later, making him one of the younger married players in the Premier League. His wife Anna is a physiotherapist. Savinho has spoken warmly about his personal life and family stability as an important foundation for his professional development, and their relationship — unusual in its seriousness for a teenager at the beginning of a professional football career — reflects the personal maturity that coaches and colleagues have consistently noted as one of his defining non-footballing qualities.
To Conclude
Savinho’s story is still being written, and the most fascinating chapters may be ahead. A player who was raised on a farm in Espírito Santo, proposed to his childhood sweetheart at eighteen, came through the City Football Group’s development network via Troyes, PSV, and Girona, scored at the Copa América at twenty, and made 48 appearances for Manchester City in his debut Premier League season is not a player without a story to tell — but the greatest chapters will come when he has the regular football that his talent demands and Guardiola believes it will deliver.
Whether that happens at the Etihad Stadium, as his contract and his manager’s stated wishes suggest, or at another club where the path to weekly starting football is clearer, Savinho’s trajectory points unmistakably upward. He is twenty-one years old, contracted until 2031, valued at €66 million, compared to Vinícius Júnior by coaches who have seen both at close range, and described by his club’s director of football as possessing “limitless” potential. The Girona breakthrough was one story; the Manchester City chapter is still being written; and the best version of Savinho — the elite winger who Guardiola says “will come” — is a player European football has not yet fully seen.
Pep Guardiola has said that Savinho will be a top player for Manchester City. Hugo Viana has said his potential is limitless. Michel compared him to Vinícius Júnior after watching him at Girona. These are not marketing statements; they are the considered assessments of people who have seen and worked with the best players in the world at close range. The PSV loan reminded him that talent alone is not sufficient — context, confidence, and the right coaching environment are equally essential. The Girona breakthrough reminded everyone what that talent looks like when it finds its environment. The Manchester City chapter is still unfolding, and the uncertainty of the 2025–26 situation is not a verdict on the player but a consequence of the extraordinary competition he faces at the world’s most demanding club for wide attacking players.
Whether Savinho ultimately fulfils his potential under the blue sky of the Etihad or under the colours of some other elite club, the picture that emerges from the totality of his story to this point is consistent: this is a player of exceptional quality, unusual personal maturity, and a trajectory that points unmistakably upward. The story of the boy from the farm in Espírito Santo is one of European football’s most compelling ongoing narratives — and the best chapter has not yet been written. At twenty-one, with the full arc of a career still ahead of him and the development curve that Guardiola, Viana, and Michel have all staked their reputations on still ascending, Savinho’s story is not approaching its conclusion. It is approaching its beginning.
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