Lucas Oliveira Rosa (born 3 April 2000) 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 Dutch club

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

. Mainly a

right-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 has been deployed as a right wing-back and a left-back on occasion. Internationally, Lucas played for his native Brazil at under-17 level.

Club career

Early career

Born in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Lucas played for local Vale Sports,

Taubaté Taubaté is a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. History Taubaté was part of the ancient Tupinambá Territory, along the Paraíba do Sul River. The Tupinambá Territory in the 16th century, stretched from ...

and

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

' youth categories.

Juventus

In April 2018, Lucas moved to Italy to join

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

, initially playing for their Primavera (under-19) squad. He was promoted to the Juventus U23 team (later renamed Juventus Next Gen) competing in

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

. He made his professional debut for the U23s on 30 March 2019, coming on as a second-half substitute against Pistoiese. Over three seasons, Rosa made 31 appearances for Juventus U23 in Serie C. He was also part of the squad that won the

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

in the 2019–20 season.

Real Valladolid

On 27 May 2021, Rosa signed a four-year contract with Spanish club

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

, initially assigned to the reserve team,

Real Valladolid Promesas Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol Promesas is the reserve team of Real Valladolid, a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Valladolid, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1942, currently plays in , ...

, playing in the

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, officially the Primera Federación Versus e-Learning for sponsorship reasons (formerly known as Primera RFEF). is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administe ...

. He was a regular starter for the B team during the 2021–22 season, making 25 appearances and scoring his first professional goal against

Calahorra Calahorra (; ; ) is a municipality in the Spanish autonomous community and province of La Rioja. During Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris Nassica Iulia''. Location The city is located on a hill at an altitude ...

on 16 April 2022. Rosa was promoted to the Real Valladolid first team for the 2022–23 season. He made his senior debut for the club on 19 October 2022, starting in a 4–1

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

defeat against

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

. He made his

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

debut on 12 November against Barbadás. He featured regularly throughout the season, making 17 La Liga appearances and 3 Copa del Rey appearances as Valladolid suffered relegation. In the 2023–24 season, Rosa was a key player in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, making 35 league appearances and scoring once as the team achieved immediate promotion back to La Liga. He continued as a regular starter in La Liga during the first half of the 2024–25 season, making 21 league appearances before his transfer. In total, he played 80 times for the Real Valladolid first team, scoring once.

Ajax

On 4 February 2025, Rosa returned to the Netherlands, joining

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side

on a contract until 30 June 2029. He made his debut for the club on 13 February 2025, starting in a 2–0 away victory against

Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (), also known as Union Saint-Gilloise, Union SG or simply Union, is a Belgian professional football club from Brussels based in Forest. Founded in 1897 in the neighbouring Saint-Gilles, the club has played its home ...

in the

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 ...

knockout round play-offs. He subsequently made appearances in both the Eredivisie and the Europa League, including a notable performance against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

on 30 March.

International career

Lucas was born in Brazil, and is of Italian descent. As he was granted

Italian citizenship The primary law governing nationality of Italy is Law 91/1992, which came into force on 16 August 1992. Italy is a member state of the European Union (EU), and all Italian nationals are EU citizens. They are entitled to free movement rights ...

, Lucas Rosa is also eligible to be called up to the Italy national team. Lucas represented Brazil at under-17 level during the preparation for the

2017 South American U-17 Championship The 2017 South American Under-17 Football Championship (, ) was the 17th edition of the South American Under-17 Football Championship, a association football, football competition for the under-17 national teams in South America organized by CONME ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Juventus U23 *

: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the Real Valladolid website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosa, Lucas 2000 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Serie C players La Liga players Segunda Federación players Primera Federación players SE Palmeiras players Juventus FC players Juventus Next Gen players Real Valladolid Promesas players Real Valladolid players AFC Ajax players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Footballers from Ribeirão Preto 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands