Charlotte FC adds Brazilian forward Vinicius Mello to growing MLS roster
Charlotte FC has added its first attacking player to its growing roster. Vinicius Mello, a 19-year-old center forward from Brazil’s Sport Club Internacional, will join the Major League Soccer expansion team.
Mello’s contract with Charlotte is for four years through 2025 with an option year for 2026, pending receipt of his P-1 visa and International Transfer Certificate that ensures eligibility for MLS competitions, the team announced Monday.
Mello will be part of the league’s new U22 initiative and he will occupy an international slot on Charlotte’s roster. He will not fill one of the club’s designated player (DP) spots. Those slots are reserved for players whose total compensation and acquisition costs exceed the Maximum Salary Budget Charge ($612,500 this year), with the club bearing financial responsibility for the amount of compensation above that charge.
The left-footed Mello overlapped with Charlotte FC’s head coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez while Ramírez coached at Inter earlier this year. Mello has made 13 appearances in competition for Inter’s first team since February, starting twice for the club. Sport Club Internacional (Inter) competes in Brazil’s first division league Série A.
“This is a strategic and calculated signing because we have a head coach who knows him well, trained him and believes in him as a footballer,” Charlotte FC sporting director Zoran Krneta said in a statement that highlighted Mello’s potential as a young goal-scorer.
Mello was born in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil and has been playing within Inter’s system since he was nine years old. He scored 15 goals and recorded five assists in 35 national competitions for Inter’s U20 side over the last three years.
“We’re eager to get him to Charlotte to continue his development as a footballer because he possesses all the qualities we are looking for in a center forward,” Krneta said. “He is very good with his back to goal, he likes to get teammates involved with combination play in the buildup, and he is an intelligent mover off the ball.”
Mello fractured his dominant foot while training with Inter in September, but a source familiar with the situation told The Observer that he has already recovered from the injury.
He is Charlotte’s third player from South America, joining Ecuadorian central midfielder Jordy Alcívar and Uruguayan center back Guzmán Corujo. Charlotte FC has 10 international roster spots after acquiring two more from Nashville SC during Monday’s trade window in exchange for general allocation money.
Mello’s signing adds attacking heat to what has so far been a defensive-heavy roster that includes midfielders in Alcívar, Brandt Bronico, Riley McGree and Sergio Ruiz and backfield players in Corujo, Christian Fuchs, Adam Armour and Jan Sobociński. Charlotte also announced the additions of outside back Jaylin Lindsey and goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega during Sunday’s trade window.
Vinicius Mello player profile
- Position: Forward
- Height: 5’10”
- Date of Birth: August 19, 2002
- Age: 19
- Birthplace: Sapucaia do Sul, Brazil
- Last Club: Sport Club Internacional
- How Arrived at Charlotte: Permanent transfer from Sport Club Internacional
This story was originally published December 8, 2021 at 1:58 PM.
