After a difficult start to life at Paris Saint-Germain, Vitinha has become one of Luis Enrique’s most reliable lieutenants. He has well and truly silenced his early doubters.
Paris Saint-Germain is a very different place to the one Vitinha walked into when joining the club from Porto in 2022.
Having failed to earn a permanent move to Wolves a little over a year earlier, he then found himself in a changing room alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, and Sergio Ramos. Some might say it was reminiscent of Real Madrid’s ‘Galactico’ era of the early 2000s – either way, there were egos aplenty.
At the time, PSG were attempting to start something of a culture change, and Vitinha’s arrival was indicative of that process.
Superstars like Messi, Neymar and Mbappé were the acquisitions of prior decision-makers and represented a different attitude regarding the attainment of success. They were ‘flashy’ signings and for the most part associated with a desire to bring success as quickly as possible – and by “success”, we mean European glory in the Champions League.
That had been PSG’s obsession ever since Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) took over in 2011. But no matter how many illustrious names they tried to squeeze into the same lineup, success wasn’t forthcoming.
A rethink was required, and Mbappé ended up playing major role in that, just perhaps not in the way most would’ve expected.
As the story goes, when Mbappé renewed his PSG contract in 2022, one of his requests was that the club replaced sporting director Leonardo with Luis Campos.
To some, Leonardo had become synonymous with PSG’s underachievement. Campos, on the other hand, was the man behind the exhilarating Monaco side in which Mbappé enjoyed his professional breakthrough, and the pair maintained a close relationship from then on.
Mbappé got his wish. Leonardo was jettisoned and Campos came on board. Essentially, his remit was to end what became known as the “Bling-Bling” era at PSG that was defined by lavish spending and high-profile recruits. Indeed, the irony of him being recommended by Mbappé – who cost PSG €180 million – is not lost on us.
Campos’ first signing was his Portuguese compatriot, Vitinha, and what a purchase he has proven, elevating himself to a point where many regard him as among the world’s best central midfielders. But his PSG career hasn’t always been smooth sailing.
Campos’ maiden transfer window wasn’t looked upon with any great enthusiasm at the time. The seven players brought in failed to stoke much excitement, especially the six attributed to Campos after the previous regime acquired Nuno Mendes.
PSG squad depth 2022-23
Carlos Soler, Renato Sanches, Nordi Mukiele, Hugo Ekitiké, Fabián Ruiz and Vitinha were the reinforcements, and according to widespread reports in France during the 2022-23 season, certain pre-existing members of the squad weren’t shy about voicing their dissatisfaction.
That apparently manifested in personal confrontations.
L’Equipe claimed Messi made a disparaging comment to Vitinha about his quality (or perceived lack of) after being on the end of a forceful challenge in training. And numerous media reports have since suggested the midfielder endured a very frosty relationship with Neymar.
Vitinha actually denied the altercation with Messi took place, and maybe that was the truth. But it’s just as believable that a player wouldn’t want such a story to have been made public and so they label it a fabrication.
Nevertheless, PSG resembled something of a soap opera that season, and there were clearly causes for tension – internal frustration about the squad’s quality just happened to be one of the most widely reported.
It is true that Vitinha’s performances hardly set the world alight during that first season. But was that down to a lack of talent, a necessary settling-in period, or the apparently tense atmosphere at the club?
The three seasons since have certainly proven it had nothing to do with Vitinha’s talent; he has been a central cog in the PSG side that finally won the Champions League in 2025 and could win it again this weekend.
2024-25 UCL sequence involvements
It could be a mere coincidence that Vitinha’s influence grew following the departures of Messi and Neymar in 2023. Similarly, the arrival of Luis Enrique as coach that summer might be more important – or it could all be linked.
While Messi and Neymar thrived as part of a front three under Luis Enrique at Barcelona, it’s doubtful that the 2023 iterations of those individuals would’ve meshed seamlessly with the coach’s ideals in terms of off-ball work rate. And it’s clear the PSG hierarchy saw a future that focused more on collective strength and identity rather than relying on individuals.
In Luis Enrique, they hired a coach used to great expectations and one with a clearly defined style that seemed to align with the club’s policies in the post “Bling-Bling” era. And, crucially for Vitinha, he’d be implementing a brand of football that would bring out his greatest qualities.
It wasn’t obvious that Vitinha would have a future, though. Not initially anyway, considering the noise around him and the fact he fell out of favour under Christophe Galtier. But Luis Enrique made it clear early on that he felt Vitinha had a big part to play.
After Vitinha impressed in a 2-0 Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund in September 2023, Luis Enrique said: “Vitinha is very important for us. He has a significant role. What I would like at the end of the season is to be able to say that every player has contributed something. Vitinha adapts well to everything we ask of him. He has immense technical ability.”
Vitinha wasn’t immediately the player everything went through, however. He actually featured fairly regularly from the left during the first few months of the 2023-24 season, before settling more permanently in the centre in the second half of the campaign.
Vitinha positions 2023-24
But the fact he could operate in different roles was one reason why his coach became so enamoured with him.
“Vitinha is the perfect player for a coach like me,” Luis Enrique said in a March 2024 press conference. “He is capable of playing in all positions: as a winger, a central midfielder, a number six, and he can get into the opposition’s area to score goals. He doesn’t lose the ball, which is precisely what we need with our style.”
Despite what Luis Enrique said about Vitinha’s suitability for numerous roles, he’s pretty much been used as a kind of six/eight hybrid ever since the second half of the 2023-24 season, emerging as arguably PSG’s most important player.
He’s started all 17 of Paris Saint-Germain’s knockout matches in the UEFA Champions League across this and last season, with his performances at the heart of their midfield en route to European glory seeing him finish third in the Ballon d’Or reckoning last year.
It’s his ball retention that is key for Luis Enrique. Vitinha is the one almost everything is funnelled through.
After all, he ranks behind just four players from the top five European leagues this season for attacking sequence involvements per 90 minutes across all competitions (1,530+ mins) with 7.8, and as the graphic below shows, those above him generally have considerably greater attacking responsibilities.
Sequence involvements - top 5 leagues all comps
Thierry Henry now appears rather prescient for comparing Vitinha to Xavi and Andrés Iniesta during the early months of Vitinha’s challenging first season in Paris when he seemingly wasn’t convincing everyone.
Speaking on Prime Video in September 2022, Henry profiled Vitinha as a player who could “control the tempo and rhythm of the game, whether in or out of possession” while also being someone who “will make the pass when needed” in the final third.
Henry made his comments when Vitinha was the newcomer and had little influence internally. He was essentially playing a support role to Marco Verratti rather than being the main man – but clearly the former Arsenal and France star could see Vitinha had the capability to be more influential.
It’s not a recent realisation, of course, but Henry was right in that sense.
This term, for instance, Vitinha has already broken the record for most successful passes by a player in a single Champions League campaign (1,448), surpassing Xavi’s 1,299 from 2012-13.
Admittedly, Vitinha is helped by playing more games than Xavi did back then, but the 26-year-old’s 90.6 successful passes per 90 still puts him in esteemed company, with only 10 midfielders averaging more across a single season (450+ minutes).
Sceptics might look at such stats and question how many were short, simple passes, which is fair enough. When your job in a possession-dominant side is to dictate the tempo, it’s likely you’ll be playing plenty of short passes.
But you don’t have to watch PSG for long to know there’s more to Vitinha than that. He brings an incisiveness that few others can, with his 14.2 line-breaking passes per 90 bettered by just two midfielders in this season’s Champions League.
He plays an important role in giving PSG direction and purpose in attack even when he’s operating from deeper positions.
For example, Vitinha has averaged 50.3 build-up involvements (open-play sequences participated in without having the shot or creating a chance) per 90 in the Champions League this term, a figure only two midfielders can improve on; this gives us an idea of his function during passing sequences.
But beyond that, he’s also averaged more secondary chances created (the pass before the one that creates a chance) than anyone else in the competition (2.2), highlighting an extremely effective balance between facilitating build-up and getting PSG on the front foot.
Vitinha secondary chances created
What takes Vitinha’s in-possession game to the next level is his willingness to run with the ball. He’s exceptionally comfortable in possession, which helps to maximise his passing talents.
A pass may not be on straight after receiving the ball, but he’s content to travel in possession and that often opens other avenues.
His 25.8 carries (movements of at least five metres with the ball) per 90 in the UCL this term is the most of all midfielders (450+ mins), and he also ranks top among the same group for progressive carries (carries moving the ball at least 5m upfield) in 2025-26 (11.6).
Vitinha progressive carries
Vitinha’s game isn’t perfect. He isn’t the most effective at winning the ball back from opponents in one-v-one duels, as shown by his ‘true tackle’ (rewards defenders for getting a touch on the ball even if their opponents retain possession, and penalises those who commit fouls when attempting a tackle) success rate of 50% in Ligue 1, 44.6% in UCL. He can be knocked off the ball in close-quarters physical tussles.
But given how much time PSG spend in possession, it’s his talents on the ball that are most important to Luis Enrique. And his stature in the coach’s eyes is plain to see.
Luis Enrique has been meticulous about rotating his squad this season, and that may be one of the reasons PSG have come so far in the Champions League. But Vitinha has been rotated less than any other player at the club, playing 82% of their minutes across all competitions in 2025-26.
PSG squad rotation this season
Sure, some players will have been impacted by injuries, and the fitness issues of teammates may have influenced Vitinha playing as often as he has. But either way, he’s been a near-constant throughout the campaign, and that reflects his coach’s admiration for him.
Obviously, the ‘new’ PSG shouldn’t be positioned as some kind of rags-to-riches story, or anything like that. PSG have still spent plenty of money over the past few years, and they very much remain majority-owned by an organisation operated by the Qatari government.
But Vitinha feels symbolic of a more cohesive and collaborative PSG on the pitch, especially considering past stories relating to his supposedly tense relationships with certain former teammates who seemed to typify the ‘old’ PSG.
Vitinha no longer has anything to prove; he’s already among the very best football has to offer in his position.
But playing a central role in another Champions League success for a club who’d never won it prior to him becoming a key player would be the latest sweet reminder of how embarrassingly wrong many people were about him.
UEFA Champions League Stats Opta
Enjoy this? Add Opta Analyst as a preferred source by clicking here.
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over onX, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.