Rodrigo Defendi (born 16 June 1986) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.
Club career Defendi was first spotted as a 16-year-old by the then Tottenham Hotspur Director of Sport Frank Arnesen. He was the first player signed under the Frank Arnesen and Jacques Santini era at Spurs from Cruzeiro for a fee of £600,000 on July 3, 2004, although he had to wait for his passport to arrive in August for the deal to be officially completed. He failed to make a first team appearance for Tottenham but featured in a number of reserve team matches.
He was deemed surplus to requirements by Tottenham Hotspur manager Martin Jol, as he was first allowed to travel back to Brazil to seek a contract with a new club which proved unsuccessful, before he was farmed out on loan to Udinese Calcio in January 2006. He made two league appearances before leaving for A.S. Roma in August 2006, again on loan. He made an appearance in the Champions League and in the Coppa Italia for the capital club, but didn't manage to play a league game in Serie A.
Defendi returned to Tottenham Hotspur from Roma after his loan period ended. On August 9, 2007 Tottenham announced his departure to the Italian Serie B club Avellino on a permanent transfer.
Defendi became a free agent after the bankruptcy of Avellino and returned to Brazil. He joined the Palmeiras reserves in March 2010.
On 18 May 2011, Defendi signed a contract with Portuguese Primeira Liga side Vitória Guimarães.
On 10 January 2013, after nine years playing in Europe, Defendi was presented by Botafogo, his new side.De volta ao Brasil após nove anos, Defendi é apresentado no Botafogo
On 18 February 2015, Defendi signed a two-year contract with Chinese Super League side Shijiazhuang Ever Bright.石家庄永昌宣布签约巴西后卫 签约两年 at sports.sohu.com 2015-02-18 Retrieved 2015-02-19
On 27 January 2016, he signed for Maribor in the Slovenian PrvaLiga.
Career statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueState LeagueNational CupLeague CupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsUdinese (loan)2005–06Serie A20—20———40Roma (loan)2006–07Serie A00—10—100020Avellino2007–08Serie B10—00———102008–09150—10———160Total160—10———170Paraná2011Série B—14141———182Vitória de Guimarães2011–12Primeira Liga131—002000001512012–13100—1000——110Total231—10200000261Botafogo2013Série A002000———20Vitória2014Série A108010——40140Vitória de Guimarães2014–15Primeira Liga70—1000——80Shijiazhuang Ever Bright2015Chinese Super League30—10———40Maribor2015–16Slovenian PrvaLiga101—30———1312016–17250—50—40—340Total351—80—40—471Aves2017–18Primeira Liga101—3200——1332018–19112—3030—00172Total213—6230—00305Estoril2019–20LigaPro10—0010——20Career total10952412636050401749
Honours Roma Coppa Italia: 2006–07
Vitória de Guimarães Taça de Portugal: 2012–13
Botafogo Campeonato Carioca: 2013
Maribor Slovenian Championship (1): 2016–17 Slovenian Cup (1): 2015–16
References
External links