Defender Thales Lira, former player of Internacional, has a new home in Asia. After a season defending PSS Sleman, from Indonesia, the athlete has finalized his transfer to Arema FC, one of the main clubs in the country.
“I’m excited about this new stage. Arema is a club with great tradition in Indonesia and I’m ready to show my best. I faced them last season on two occasions and they were extremely difficult games. I hope it will be a new trajectory of many achievements for us and for the fans,” said Thales, who is already looking forward to his debut.
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Life in Indonesia has brought unique challenges for the defender, both in cultural terms and in the style of play: “Football takes you to places you can’t imagine. I adapted well to Indonesian football and I feel good here. The people are also easy to get along with and they are very passionate about football, just like us Brazilians, so it’s been a very enjoyable experience.”
Career
At 31 years old, Thales is from Rio Grande do Sul and has gone through several clubs in Brazil in his career. Formed at Sport Club Internacional, he later defended the jerseys of Bahia-BA, Vitória-BA, Atlético-GO, Criciúma-SC, Guarani-SP, Operário Ferroviário-PR, CSA-AL and Paraná Clube-PR, totaling 234 games so far. Of this total, 37 matches were played internationally, defending Ankaraspor, from Turkey, and PSS Sleman, from Indonesia, his former club. Thales also has 16 goals scored in his career, three of them last season, and two assists.
