Juan Guilherme Nunes Jesus (; born 10 June 1991), usually known as Juan Jesus or simply Juan or Juje, is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for club

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. Mainly a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, he can also play as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Internacional

In 2007, Juan Jesus joined the youth team of

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Bras ...

. He made his debut on the first team in 2010, winning the

2010 Copa Libertadores The 2010 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2010 Copa Santander Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st edition of the Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de Améric ...

, and in December 2011, the club sold him for about R$9.26 million (reported €3.8million fee); 65% of the economic rights of Juan went to his agent, Giuliano Bertolucci and 35% to third-party owner

DIS Esporte D.I.S. Esporte e Organização de Eventos LTDA. is a private football investment fund. It was set up by Rio Grande do Sul native Delcir Sonda and Idi Sonda. They operate one of the São Paulo state supermarket chains, Sonda. DIS was the strategic ...

. The owners of the registration rights of Juan, used a Brazilian club Coimbra Esporte Clube as middleman club.

Inter Milan

On 30 January 2012, Juan Jesus joined

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

. Inter disclosed the fee was €4M, but extra bonus clause was also reported. He made his first

appearance for Inter on 13 May 2012, in the 3–1 away loss against

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

after coming on as a last-minute substitute for

Diego Milito Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was nicknamed ''El Principe'' ("The Prince" in Spanish) because of his physical resemblance with former Uruguayan footballer En ...

. During the 2012–13 season, Juan Jesus emerged as part of Inter's first choice starting XI, featuring alongside

Andrea Ranocchia Andrea Ranocchia (; born 16 February 1988) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Early career Born in Assisi in the province of Perugia, Ranocchia started his career at Perugia then in Arezzo. Ranocc ...

and

Walter Samuel Walter Adrián Samuel (; born Walter Adrián Luján; 23 March 1978) is an Argentine former professional footballer. Samuel has been regarded as one of the best centre-backs of his generation, and as one of football's toughest defenders, with f ...

in a 3–5–2 system. He scored his first goal on 19 May 2013 in a 2–5 home defeat against

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

, the last match of the domestic season. He ended the year with 44 appearances in all competitions, including 31 in Serie A with Inter, who finished the season in a disappointing ninth place and failed to qualify for either next season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. On 12 July 2013, Juan Jesus took the number 5 shirt after the departure of long-time player

Dejan Stanković Dejan Stanković ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Станковић, , born 11 September 1978) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He captained the Serbia national team from 2007 until 2011, when he announced his retirement from ...

. In August 2013, he captained Inter for the first time in a friendly match against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in the United States, which ended in a 3–0 loss. On 24 September 2013, Juan Jesus renewed his contract with Inter until 2018 with a reported wage of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1.2 million per year. Juan Jesus made his 100th appearance for Inter on 4 February 2015 in a game against

in the quarter-finals of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, which the ''Nerazzurri'' lost 1–0 away at

Stadio San Paolo Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, formerly known as Stadio San Paolo, is an all-seater football stadium in Naples, Italy. Completed in 1959, it is the fourth largest football stadium in Italy after Milan's San Siro, Rome's Stadio Olimpico and ...

thanks to a late winner by

Gonzalo Higuaín Gonzalo Gerardo Higuaín (; born 10 December 1987) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''El Pipita'' or ''Pipa,'' he is considered to be one of the best strikers of his generation and was a prolific striker kn ...

Roma

On 14 July 2016, Juan Jesus joined

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

on loan for €2 million in loan fees and a conditional obligation to purchase for an additional €8 million if certain conditions were met before the end of the loan deal. The purchase obligation was activated during the 2016–17 season, meaning that Jesus would join Roma on a permanent deal in the summer transfer window.

Napoli

On 18 August 2021, Juan Jesus joined

on a season-long deal with an option to extend his contract for the 2022–23 season.

International career

After having played in the under-18 and under-19 national teams, in early 2010, Juan Jesus was selected to the under-20 team by its manager,

Ney Franco Ney Franco da Silveira Júnior (born 22 July 1966), known as Ney Franco, is a Brazilian football coach. Career Born in Vargem Alegre, Minas Gerais, Franco worked in Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro's youth categories before being named the l ...

. In January 2011, he took part in the team's triumph at the

2011 South American U-20 Championship The 2011 South American Youth Football Championship, South American Youth Championship (, ) was a football competition for U-20 national teams in the South America (CONMEBOL). The tournament was held in Peru from 16 January to 12 February. The to ...

in Peru, playing all eight matches of the competition. In the same year, he participated in the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

, where Brazil reached the final against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Juan played the entire match, helping his side to a 3–2 victory after extra time. Juan Jesus made his Brazilian first team debut against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 26 May 2012, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–3 away victory. Juan Jesus started in the centre of defence, alongside captain

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Fluminense. Regarded as one of the best defenders of all time, he is known ...

, in all of Brazil's matches at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, helping the nation to a silver medal. He was an unused substitute as Brazil defeated

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

2–0 to win the

2014 Superclásico de las Américas The 2014 Superclásico de las Américas – Copa Doctor Nicolás Leoz was the 3rd edition of the Superclásico de las Américas, an annual friendly football match between the national teams of Argentina and Brazil. The match was played at Beijing ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. Since all his caps for Brazil were friendly matches, Juan did not rule out his chance to play for

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

instead. However, it was reported that Juan did not have Italian citizenship (or citizenship of any European Union member), making him ineligible to Italy.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Internacional *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

Napoli *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2024–25 Brazil *

South American Youth Championship South American Youth Championships may refer to: * South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American foo ...

Olympic Silver Medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Superclásico de las Américas The Superclassic of the Americas (, ), was an annual Exhibition game, friendly association football, football match between the national teams of Argentina national football team, Argentina and Brazil national football team, Brazil. Established ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

External links

Profile
at the SSC Napoli website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Juan Jesus 1991 births Living people Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players SC Internacional players Inter Milan players AS Roma players SSC Napoli players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazil men's international footballers Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Brazil Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in football Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers from Belo Horizonte 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Copa Libertadores–winning players