Marcelinho leaves ATK Mohun Bagan, joins Brazilian club EC Taubate

The 33-year-old played 16 matches in ISL 2020-21 and scored two goals.

Brazlian side EC Taubate has signed Marcelinho Leite Pereira, the club confirmed on Saturday. The 33-year-old last played for ATK Mohun Bagan, who he joined from Odisha FC as part of a loan-swap deal in January 2020.

EC Taubate competes in the Campeonato Paulista Serie A2, the second tier of the Sao Paulo state football league in Brazil. The club released an official statement following Marcelinho's signing.

"Marcelinho Leite is the latest reinforcement signing that EC Taubate finalised on Friday. The 33-year-old striker arrived the club last week and has since trained with our first-team squad under Marcelo Martelotte," their statement read. Marcelinho was also available for comment, as he said, "Taubate's willingness to count on me made me want to be here. I'm close to home and I have met my new teammates. I am also available now to the coach for game after game, as he sees fit."

The player began his career at Flamengo's youth side before joining Atletico Madrid's B team in 2006. He later played for a year at Getafe B before having stints at multiple Brazilian, Greek, Emirati and Italian clubs. His career in Indian football began at Delhi Dynamos in 2016, and since then he has also played for FC Pune City, Hyderabad FC, Odisha FC and finally ATKMB.

Overall, Marcelinho has played 79 Indian Super League matches and has found the back of the net 33 times. The forward scored ten goals en-route to winning the ISL Golden Boot in his maiden season in the league. With 18 assists, he is also at third place currently in the all-time ISL assists' charts.

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