INTER Official Site

Originally, the Brazilian city Campinas was once called Campinas de Mato Grosso due to dense, unexplored forest that characterised this region. It was necessary to pass through here to get to the goldmines, the greatest resource of the area. It was a tough and necessary journey, yet revitalising at the same time. The local communities dedicated themselves to searching for gold, with a constant drive to find fortune through hard work. It is here where Carlos Augusto Zopolato Neves was born on 7 January 1999.

Origins are often needed to pave a way, to define a pathway and the one outlined for the Brazilian midfielder was certainly unexpected, but strongly wished for. It was a career that started out without any objectives or defined lines. Carlos’ relationship with football was up and down and slow-moving, which gradually became more stable season after season before eventually exloding. He never dreamt of becoming a football player, living in a place where everyone around him lived for football. This all changed at seven years of age, when Carlos asked his father to sign him up to the local football team for the first time. Joining the Youth Sector at Corinthians, Carlos Augusto started to develop his relationship with the game, fighting the cynicism of his teammates. The young lad continued his journey in that unexplored forest, never breaking nor cracking continuously looking for gold.

When he was 15, he played in attack, but he never felt completely at ease there. The turning point came in the Under 17s when Carlos began to play wider in midfield. From that moment on, the gold twinkles shone brightly and clear. After three seasons wearing the first team jersey of Corinthians, he moved to Monza in Serie B in the 2020/21 season. His first goal in Italy reflected his characteristics: unpredictability. Carlos netted against Venezia, firing in an unstoppable left-foot thunderbolt from a tight angle.

The Brazilian wideman then had another year in Serie B with the Brianzoli before gaining promotion with them to the Italian top-flight. Last season, his, and their, first in Serie A, he scored six times in 29 appearances, getting ever so closer to that much-searched for gold that from today becomes Nerazzurro.