Few goals, aplenty of troubles; Michael Vinícius' wavering football journey

Kumasi Asante Kotoko on Wednesday afternoon announced the signing of Michael Vinícius Silva de Morais, an attacker who hails from São Francisco de Sales in the West of Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

Born on April 19,1993, the 27-year-old towering forward will have Kotoko on his CV as his first club in Africa.

Michael Vinícius’ has had an undulating football journey. In 2013, he failed a doping test which resulted in a ban.

A young boy then, Vinícius was banned by the Arbitral Tribunal do Esporte (CAS) for using cocaine after an anti-doping test was conducted in a lead up to one of the league games.

On November 3, 2015, Vinícius decided not to play football again after not showing up at training for several days. He rescinded the decision and joined Estoril on loan in Portugal – his first move outside Brazil.

He made a return to Fluminense and had a car accident on a weekend after a collision with a cow on the road. He suffered a blow on his head and had a head trauma which led to him being intubated.

After recovering from the accident, Michael returned to Fluminense. However, after training for 15 days, Michael ended up on loan to Boavista in May 2017. But he did not appear in his presentation without any satisfactory reason and was dismissed.

Vinicius comes on board as the sixth Brazilian player Kotoko have signed since 2004. He will be teaming up with his compatriot, Fabio Gama who also joined earlier this season in the Porcupine Warriors attack.

In 77 games at 6 clubs, the Brazilian has managed only 14 goals, which is one the fans of Kotoko will not be excited about.

His best form at club level came in Sweden when he was playing for Linköping in 2019 – he notched 10 goals in 15 games.

Since then, it has been a tough ride for the man from Brazil, he has struggled to settle anywhere he has been and the goals have not come either.

After a series of struggles, he has made the long journey from Brazil to Ghana, having at the back of his mind that he will be able to re-launch his career.

Michael Vinícius Silva de Morais is coming with high hopes and expectations from the fans of Asante Kotoko as he comes in as a direct replacement for club’s top scorer, Kwame Opoku who joined USM Algiers in Algeria.

Source: 3news.com|Ghana