Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Atlético Madrid announced the departure of Samuel Lino for Flamengo, where he will join former Atlético stalwarts Saúl Ñíguez and Filipe Luis in Rio after two seasons in the Spanish capital.
Acuerdo con el @Flamengo para el traspaso de Samuel Lino al conjunto brasileño.
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) July 29, 2025
➡ https://t.co/1CdQVTsuzi
¡Te deseamos lo mejor en todos tus futuros proyectos personales y profesionales, Samu! pic.twitter.com/Mibebr9dZt
Marca’s David Medina reports that Atlético are to receive
a €22 million fee for Lino, making him the fourth-most expensive incoming transfer in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. The move serves as a homecoming for Lino; he played for Flamengo’s youth team during the 2017/18 campaign, a year before he moved to Europe.
Lino joined Atleti from Portuguese side Gil Vicente in 2022 for a €6.5 million fee; three years later, the club has turned a €15 million-plus profit on him. Lino’s transfer this summer had been anticipated for months; after a strong debut season in Madrid (the fans voted him as player of the season for 2023/24), the 25-year-old disappointed in his sophomore campaign, when he scored just four goals in 47 appearances, though his eight assists ranked second on the team.
Lino also occupied one of the three non-European Union registration spots in the squad; with his departure, the club now can register new signing Thiago Almada, who was presented to the media Tuesday and took the #11 shirt. That shirt number’s previous owner, Thomas Lemar, is set to join Girona on loan, in a deal that could be announced later on Wednesday.
Muito obrigado, Samu pic.twitter.com/JeQCLCBf8g
— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) July 29, 2025
For Lino, joining Flamengo is a huge opportunity ahead of the FIFA World Cup in the United States next year. Not only will he be closer to his mother and relatives in his native Brazil, but Lino will get significant playing time that was no longer on offer to him at Atlético; if he performs well, he is likely to be in Brazil’s squad at the World Cup.
Additionally, Lino has signed a four-year contract worth more than €5 million per year, a sizable increase over his Atleti salary. From his point of view, this move is a no-brainer: much more appealing than Wolves or Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, or even Serie A champions Napoli, all of whom had been linked to the player in recent months.
For Atlético, Lino represents the biggest sale of a busy summer; he is the eighth player to depart from the first team squad this month as Atleti’s reshaping continues. Once expected to form a big part of the team’s future, Lino’s alarming drop-off in 2024/25 made him expendable, especially after Álex Baena’s arrival from Villarreal. Combine that with the fact that he wasn’t holding a EU passport, and you have a fairly clear sale.
Lino leaves Atleti having scored 12 goals and provided 16 assists across 93 appearances — seven games short of meriting a plaque on the Metropolitano’s Walk of Legends.
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