Abemly Meto Silu (born 23 April 2003), known as Metinho, is a 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

club

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

on loan from club

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

. Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he holds both Congolese and Brazilian citizenship.

Early life

Metinho was born in

Matadi Matadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the capital of the Kongo Central province, adjacent to the border with Angola. It had a population of 245,862 (2004). Matadi is situated on the left bank of the Congo River, ...

, Democratic Republic of the Congo, but moved to Brazil aged one, after his father, Abel, fled the country following

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic oppression of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within socie ...

. After settling in the Cinco Bocas favela in

Brás de Pina Brás de Pina is a neighborhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-l ...

, a neighbourhood in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Abel came up with the name "Metinho" for his son, taking the diminutive form of his real name, Meto - a common tradition in Brazil.

Club career

Metinho progressed through the youth sides of Madureira before going on trial with

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

. He was offered a contract, but changed his mind before finalising the deal, determined that he would wait for

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club () is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighbourhood of Laranjeiras, in Rio de Janeiro, being the oldest football club in the state since its foundation in 1902. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, th ...

to make an offer. He joined the ''Tricolor'', and moved from the favela into a house owned by then-teammate João Pedro. Metinho would go on to captain the under-17 team of Fluminense and play for the club's under-20 side. In 2020, he was included in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

's "Next Generation 2020". In March 2021, Metinho made his professional debut, coming on as a substitute for Rafael Ribeiro in a 3–0 loss to Portuguesa-RJ. On 15 June 2021, Fluminense confirmed that Metinho had been released by the club in order to "introduce himself to his new club in Europe". On 23 July, this was confirmed to be

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

, with which he signed a five-year contract for a reported fee of €5 million plus bonuses. On 2 July 2022, Metinho moved to Belgian club

Lommel Lommel () is a municipality and city in the Belgian province of Limburg. Lying in the Kempen, it has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the arrondissement of Maaseik. Besides the residential town, Lommel also has a number of nature reserv ...

on loan for the 2022–23 season. On 31 August 2023, Metinho joined

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

in the Netherlands on loan. The loan was extended for the 2024–25 season. On 27 January 2025, Metinho moved on a new loan to

in Switzerland.

International career

Metinho became a naturalized Brazilian citizen in 2019. In November 2020, despite not having represented Brazil at any youth level, Metinho was called up to train with the senior squad, alongside teammate Luiz Henrique. He remains eligible to represent the country of his birth, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Honours

Basel *

: 2024–25

Career statistics

References