Strapping 19-year-old Brazilian striker Rayan has hit the ground running at AFC Bournemouth … in addition to powering past defenders and towering above them.
After leaving Vasco da Gama for the Premier League in late January, he was thrown into action. He immediately showed why Bournemouth had paid €35 million for the player who stood out as the revelation of last year’s Brazilian season.
Deployed off the bench against Wolverhampton Wanderers, he got the best of Brazil international midfielder João Gomes and squared for Alex Scott to slot home. Instantly judged worthy of a first-team place by Andoni Iraola, he celebrated his home debut by scoring a fine solo goal to rescue a point against Aston Villa, cutting in from the right onto his favorite left foot and planting a shot inside the near post.
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The match away to Everton may not have started well — Rayan was caught trying to play out from the back and gave away a penalty — but he soon made amends, putting Bournemouth on the way to a 2-1 win with an imposing header at the far post.
Some South American signings need time to settle in the Premier League. Not Rayan. He has made a significant impact in each of his opening three matches and has exceeded the early expectations, probably including his own. Because it would seem clear that Rayan is playing the long game. He has done his research. At Vasco, he had the company of former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho, a valuable source of advice.
More briefly, he also spent time with one-time West Ham United favorite Dimitri Payet. A highlight from 2024 was when Payet was given the player of the match award for a game against Bahia, and made a point of handing it over to Rayan in the dressing room. He has clearly learned from and leaned on on these players for tips on developing his career.
And in the final few months at Vasco, he was also sharing a dressing room with Matheus França, a Crystal Palace signing who ran into injury problems and appears to have lost form, confidence and momentum in his loan spell with Vasco.
Rayan has seen, then, that there are risks as well as rewards in making such an early move. After an excellent year in Brazil, with 14 league goals, there was no shortage of offers, but he made a careful choice for his next destination, judging Bournemouth to be a fine launching pad, a well-run club with a track record of developing players and transferring them on. Bournemouth, then, is where he has chosen to begin his European adventure.
It would seem fair to assume that Rayan did not grow up with a burning desire to play on the south coast of England, but it also appears abundantly clear that he is part of a generation who have grown up with dreams focused on triumphing on the other side of the Atlantic. He could have stayed in Brazil a while longer, as Vasco’s financial situation makes the transfer fee very welcome, and it’s clear coach Fernando Diniz would love to have kept him for at least the next few months. The side have been struggling mightily for goals without him, but Rayan even negotiated away part of his right to the transfer fee to force the deal through. He was determined to go, even though it was hard to imagine a young player more identified with Vasco.
Rayan’s father was a reserve center back in a highly successful Vasco side at the end of the last century, and later joined the ranks of the youth training staff, while his mother also worked at the club. Rayan grew up in the compact streets around the club’s stadium in Rio de Janeiro’s working-class north zone, and made his way up through the youth ranks from the age of 6. A now-famous piece of video records a meeting of a youthful Rayan with Roberto Dinamite, a center forward from the 1970s and ’80s who is the biggest idol in the club’s history.
He appeared, then, pre-ordained for success in the white shirt with the black sash, and stood out enough to represent Brazil at the Under-15 and Under-17 levels. He looked strong and promising, but little more when he played for Brazil’s Under-20s at the start of last year.
At the time, he had one league goal to his name, and it was hard to imagine him as the breakout star of 2025 and one of the leading scorers in the Brazilian league. But that is what happened, as Rayan made massive progress during the course of the year.
He kept on adding to his game. At the start of the season, he was operating on the right wing, mostly looking to cut onto his natural left foot. He was an imposing physical figure, but still very raw, and running the touchline made him an easy target for rockets from coach Diniz. But Rayan is already a very different player. His right foot has improved, giving him the option of going either way, placing doubt in the mind of the defender.
He has learned to combine, to give and go, and he spent much of the second half of the season playing inside as a center forward. Greater penalty area presence also improved his heading. The goals began to flow and, with confidence up, he was shooting with both power and precision. All of these virtues have already been on show at Bournemouth.
Of course, he is by no means the finished article. New coach Iraola has made this point, echoing the sentiments of Vasco boss Diniz. His back-to-goal game certainly needs work. Diniz said that he “did everything I could for Rayan to stay.”
“I think he’s running a risk by leaving now,” he said at the time of the transfer. “It could turn out OK, but I’m convinced that the best decision for Rayan would have been to stay here for another season and make the move when he’s better prepared.”
Time will tell, although Rayan’s explosive Premier League start would seem to give support to his decision. But the unknown sensation will swiftly become known. Future opponents will be doing their homework. Defenders are unlikely to let him cut inside with the ease that he was able to do so against Villa. Alerted to his aerial threat by the goal at Everton, teams will try to make it harder for him to have a free run at the far post.
It will be fascinating to see if Rayan can continue to rise to the challenge. He has hit the Premier League like some runaway train. Will he be derailed, or can he stay on track?
