Athletico 100 years: Renan Lodi, CT’s star

One of the reasons that led Athletico to buy the area and transform an old hotel into one of the best training centers in South America is to forge its own stars on the Caju fields. It worked out quite well. And I have no hesitation in saying that, in the last decade, the best outfield player trained at our base is Renan Lodi.

Paulista de Serrana, Renan Augusto Lodi dos Santos was born in the first year of CT operation. Due to his unusual category and ability, for many, he already surpasses defenders with a longer history such as Sérgio Moura, Júlio and Fabiano in the Athletico team of all time.

Lodi arrived at CT in 2012, as a youth player, coming from partner Trieste. Four years later, he debuted in the main squad in the Brazilian Championship. In 2018, he was one of the highlights of the team of aspirants led by Tiago Nuneswhich beat Paranaense and became the basis of the 2018 Copa Sudamericana champion squad.

Those who say that Lodi, scorer of decisive goals and assists, was the best player of that campaign, despite several strong competitors and having lost match point in the penalty shootout, are not exaggerating. In July 2019, its sale to its Spanish namesake for 20 million euros was the biggest in the club’s history until the phenomenon Victor Roque.

Since then, Lodi has traveled extensively in Europe. From Madrid to the forest of Nottingham and from there to beautiful Marseille. More recently, he landed at Al-Hilal, in Saudi Arabia, to play with Neymar. Each of these transfers yielded a golden coin for Hurricane’s coffers.

Lodi had ups and downs, such as his performance in the main team, where a poorly explained situation with former coach Tite left him out of the World Cup.

In 2024, in an interview with the channel Speak, Capplanned a return to Athletico in a few years: “I’m a fan, I can’t do my life without Furacão anymore. It changed my life and that of my family… It’s on my skin”, he said.

Here at home, there is a huge fan base for Renan to recover the brilliant level of his football, as the CT door will be open for you to be happy again here in Caju, piá.