Jean Mota was the stop scorer for Santos at Sao Paulo State Championship in 2019 and now will play for Inter Miami in 2022.
Inter Miami CF officially announced yesterday afternoon (12) the signing of Brazilian midfielder Jean Mota. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 28-year-old Jean was with Santos FC/BRA before signing with the club. The club led by David Beckham signed the player for approximately $500,000 for 80% of the players’ rights.
Jean started his professional career at Portuguesa Santista/BRA, a traditional club in Brazil in 2012, after that the player moved to Fortaleza/BRA where he won the state championship and was nominated for the Best XI of the championship. After a great 2015 season, Santos FC was “enchanted” by the player and signed him for $142,000.
Unlike other Brazilians in the league, Jean Mota stands out for his versatility. He started his career as an offensive midfielder but the best moment of his career was playing as a striker in 2019 when he was the top scorer in the Sao Paulo state championship. He also played as a left-back, right-winger and defensive midfield.
2021 was not Jean’s best season, playing more defensively as Santos sold their CDM mid-season, Jean played in 23 of Santos’ 38 games this season. He even managed to be selected for Team of the week 3 times. In total there were 23 games, 21 as a starter and he managed to score 2 goals and give 2 assists. Below is Jean’s heat map for the season:
As you can see, the Brazilian helps in all areas of the field, including set-pieces. Despite being left-footed, Jean “Messi” as he was nicknamed, tends to take the ball further to the left side of the field. Often acting as a left winger in certain game situations. He is considered a box-to-box midfielder, but Mota does not usually enter the box either defensively or offensively.
If you ask Santos fans, most will tell you good things about Jean but in the end you hear the same thing from most of them, that despite his qualities, Jean is very irregular, or at least it was throughout 2021. In the Brazilian Championship, much in question because of the difficult phase that Santos is going through in Brazil, Jean couldn’t make good games in sequence, which undoubtedly made the team lose a lot in matters of creating plays. For example, his last game for Santos was on November 23rd against America Mineiro for the Brasileirao Serie A. He started the game on the bench but had to enter the match at 44′ due to an injury and he ended up committing a penalty. being sent off at 45′, literally a minute later. Santos finished the championship in 10th place with 50 points.
Overall, it looks like he and Gregore will get along very well in Inter Miami’s midfield. Gregore being more defensive will consequently leave Jean with more freedom to attack, something he didn’t have in 2021. In addition, he will take the weight off Higuain’s back from having to create the team’s offensive plays, something that is not characteristic of the Argentine. Gonzalo was the player with the most assists (9) in the team last year, Pizarro was the second (7). By the way, Neville will have to find a balance if he wants to play Jean and Pizarro at the same time, as they both play in the same position. The Mexican had perhaps his best season with the team, especially in the final stretch of the season and at the moment should be the holder of the position, at least if he is not sold.
Phil Neville will have a lot of work to do mainly in helping Jean to adapt, obviously in Florida everything is easier because of the large Brazilian community in the area. We from the Territorio wish Jean all the best for her career in the United States.
