Kaio to Join FC Krasnodar Soon

FC Krasnodar and C.D. Santa Clara (Portugal) have agreed on the details of the Brazilian defensive midfielder Kaio’s transfer to the Russian club.

Kaio Fernando da Silva Pantaleão was born on 18 September 1995 in a small town of Araraquara in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. His football career began at the local Associação Ferroviária de Esporte where he originally played with the youth ranks. In 2015 he made his debut for the first team of the same club in the Campeonato Paulista.

European scouts laid their eyes on this extremely flexible and physically gifted defensive midfielder, and so in summer 2017 he moved to the Azores and joined Clube Desportivo Santa Clara on a one-year loan contract. The Azorean team performed in the Portuguese second-tier division at the time, and Kaio made 18 appearances there and helped Os Açoreanos to find their way to the top-tier division, the Primeira Liga. Following the results of the season 2017/18 Santa Clara bought the player out using the relevant loan contract clause.

In the season 2018/19 this tenacious and creative defensive midfielder made 24 appearances on a field of play. Even though he did not mark himself with any goals or assists, his confident and reliable performance contributed to Santa Clara gaining a foothold among the Portugal football elite as the club finished season in the 10^th position.

As for now, all the formalities concerning Kaio’s transfer to FC Krasnodar have been fulfilled. A five-year personal contract has been signed with the player. The half-back will join his new team in June when the black-greens commence their preparation for the new season.

Career statistics for Kaio

* All stats are shown with the inclusion of the national Cup games