Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz has heaped praise on teammate Andreas Pereira, admitting he is like his big brother at Craven Cottage.
Muniz has been speaking to GE Globo about life at Fulham and his relationship with various Brazilian players in the Premier League.
One of those he has the firmest relationship with is teammate Andreas Pereira, with Muniz arriving a year before the midfielder.
That means they both missed each other at Flamengo, with Muniz leaving the Brazilian club the year that Pereira joined them on loan from Manchester United.
They’re now united at Craven Cottage and Muniz admits Pereira acts like his big brother in Marco Silva’s squad.
“Andreas has been a big brother to me here, he’s helped me a lot, both this season and last,” he said.
“He talks to me a lot about my day-to-day life. He tells me that I have to keep training well and playing well in matches, because that puts a flea behind the coach’s ear and puts the pressure on him.
“His little touches have helped me a lot, and we take this relationship off the pitch. We go out for dinner together, we play paddle tennis together, we go to the club together. We take that onto the pitch. That makes a big difference to me and I’m sure to him too.”
The Brazilian connection is not just at Fulham for the striker, with him also revealing he has a ‘very good relationship’ with Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes.
The pair played together at Flamengo, with Muniz moving to England in 2021 and Gomes making the switch to Wolves in 2023.
They’ve played against each other several times since, with the latest clash seeing Muniz come out on top as he bagged the winner in a 2-1 win. Fortunately, though, that hasn’t ruined relations.
“We have a very good relationship, both individually and as a family,” he revealed.
“My mum and his mum have a very good relationship. His family was like a family to me in Rio. My family in Minas, I was alone sometimes, and they would call me straight to stay at their house, at the Piscinão.”
While Muniz is happy at Fulham for the time being, questions have been raised about his future as he enters the final year of his deal this summer.
If he does move on, he’s unlikely to be returning to Brazil any time soon, having now established himself as a Premier League goal scorer over the last two years.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss one thing from his homeland now he lives in the UK, and that’s a traditional Brazilian barbeque.
“It’s more the energy of the Brazilians and the people who stayed close to me,” he concluded.
There are no get togethers here, no club get togethers. Outside the club, it’s just me and Andreas. Willian is back now, there’s Vini (Carlos Vinícius) too. When I was in Minas, we used to go to someone’s house or have a barbecue. Barbecuing here is almost impossible, it’s indoors.”
