Thirty-four million pounds for a 22-year-old
Manchester City are closing in on Allan, the Brazilian right winger at Palmeiras. Opta Analyst put the fee at around 34 million pounds. Nothing signed, nothing announced.
The reasoning is not hard to follow. Savinho has gone to Tottenham, Omar Marmoush has left the Etihad too, and City are two wingers lighter than they were in May.
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The night Palmeiras turned a 3-0 hole into a semi-final
Go back to last October to see where the buzz started. Palmeiras came home from Ecuador 3-0 down to LDU Quito in the Copa Libertadores semi-final. The second leg was supposed to be a lap of honour for the Ecuadorians.
Palmeiras won 4-0.
Allan ran the whole thing. On 19 minutes he cut inside and hung up a cross for Ramon Sosa. With 22 left he stole possession from a corner, went past one man, drove into the box, went past another, and got dragged down. Penalty, scored, tie flipped.
He was 21, on one of the smallest contracts in the squad, and had spent his youth years in the shadow of Estevao and Endrick. Abel Ferreira said afterwards that Allan had barely featured for the Under-20s.
The Portuguese coach had already told sporting director Anderson Barros that Allan was not to be sold, praising the unpredictability and directness the winger brings.
A dribbler in search of an end product
The 2026 Brasileiro numbers match the eye test. Allan attempts 4.98 dribbles per 90, tenth in the league among players past 600 minutes, and his 1,553 minutes set him apart because eight of the nine names above him have played far less football.
His completion rate is 55.8%, twelfth of 69 players with 30 or more attempts. He has 16 sequences in which he beat more than one opponent in a single run, four clear of anyone else in the division, and sits eighth for progressive carries of at least 10 metres with 72.
Then the graph falls off a cliff. Just 1.27 open-play chances created per 90 leaves him outside the league’s top 20. Twelve decisive involvements since the start of 2025 is a total four of his own teammates beat on their own. His 0.21 non-penalty xG plus xA per 90 over the same stretch ranks tenth in his own squad.
So what sold City on him is probably at the other end. Allan has won the ball back 57 times this season, ninth among forwards and wingers, and he has done it in a team averaging 51.3% possession while several players ahead of him play in far more defensive sides. His 1.7 tackles per 90 rank thirteenth in that same group.
Ferreira put it plainly after the Vasco da Gama win: clubs want Allan because he attacks and defends the full flank, something most wingers in Brazil cannot do. He also reminded everyone he used the player at right-back against Inter Miami at the 2025 Club World Cup, and thinks he could operate as a wing-back in a back three.
What City would actually do with him is the open question. Pep Guardiola’s exit this summer points to a side built around transitions rather than possession, which suits Allan’s profile. The final ball still has to get better. It usually does not, quickly.
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