The Colombian was exceptional for Fluminense at the Club World Cup and will now bring his talents to the English Premier League. FIFA looks at his career journey.
- Jhon Arias was one of the stars of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025
- He has completed a move from Fluminense to Wolverhampton Wanderers
- FIFA looks at how he has constantly evolved as a player
Fresh from his starring role for Fluminense FC at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, Jhon Arias is set to embark on a new chapter of his career in England with Wolverhampton Wanderers. It represents another step on a successful career journey which has seen Arias constantly fine-tune his game to become the player he is today.
His stint at Fluminense is a testament to that evolution. Arias was named Michelob Ultra Player of the Match in three of the club’s six matches at the Club World Cup, including against Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan, finalists in the last two editions of the UEFA Champions League. From the four Brazilian clubs in the tournament, Arias was arguably the standout player.
Fernando Diniz, now coach of Vasco da Gama, had the longest managerial stint at Fluminense during Arias’s time there. In total, the ‘Colombian Pele’, as he was affectionately known by the fans, played 229 games, scored 47 goals, and provided 55 assists for Flu. Diniz explained how Arias took his game to a new level.
“When I arrived, he was already a huge talent, and slowly he started to recognise his own ability,” he said in a 2024 interview. “He’s an exceptional person – very sensitive, cultured and intelligent – and an outstanding player that drives the team forward. He’s on an unstoppable upward curve and has got everything it takes to reach the top. He’s a very unique player who plays with joy and confidence, and lives his life to the full.”
Under Diniz’s charge, Arias won the CONMEBOL Libertadores in November 2023. Despite the Colombian’s massive contribution in that tournament, it was the Argentinian German Cano, his great strike partner, who won the South American Footballer of the Year award. Defensive midfielder Andre, who will reunite with Arias at Wolves, also played a key role in that team.
During the post-match celebrations of the Libertadores final win over CA Boca Juniors at the Maracana, one powerful image stole the show. Still on the pitch, Arias embraced the club psychologist, Emily Goncalves, saying, “You made me who I am today.” Goncalves had supported the player after the loss of his grandmother. The news came just one month after he had signed with Fluminense in August 2021. Heartbroken on his trip to the funeral in Quibdo in Colombia, he even considered not returning to Brazil.
“He was very vulnerable, really shaken,” Goncalves explained. “He said that he was thinking about giving up but it was precisely this valuable legacy of his grandmother that we were able to tap into, and he understood that he had to keep going because of all the strength and support, and the whole story he shared with her – a story of struggle and overcoming.”
The next month, despite losing the final to Manchester City, Arias won the Bronze Ball at the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™ (then called the FIFA Club World Cup).
Amid the typical rollercoaster of Brazilian football, Fluminense leaned on Arias to avoid a disastrous 2024. Though he scored twice in the Recopa Sudamericana [the South American Super Cup] against LDU, his mission by the year’s end had completely changed, and his commitment helped save the club from relegation. He scored seven goals and provided three assists in 26 matches, with some standout performances during the season run-in.
Arias is also a regular starter for his country and has come a long way since his early days of playing football in Mexico, before turning professional. Returning to Colombia, he worked his way up, turning out for Patriotas, América de Cali and eventually Independiente Santa Fe, for whom he twice faced Fluminense in the 2021 Libertadores group stage, catching the attention of the Rio giants.
Patriotas gave him his first chance in Colombia’s top flight before he moved on to the country’s biggest clubs. His former coach there, Diego Corredor, also saluted Arias’s ability to develop different facets of his game. Corredor sent Arias to play in Colombia’s second division with Llaneros in 2018, along with some suggestions that helped to transform his game.
“Jhon Arias was a traditional midfielder who carried the ball, a classic number 10, and I told him that football had changed,” said Corredor in 2023. “If he didn’t change his way of playing, if he didn’t push on and track back, it would be difficult for him to succeed, as coaches were already looking for something different. He was at Patriotas and I sent him to the second division.
“We talked with the coach to play him as a winger so that he could also help out defensively. When I saw him doing that, I brought him back to Patriotas. He started playing on the wing, and then America de Cali signed him. From there, he moved on to Santa Fe, and we now see a Jhon Arias who plays as a winger but who also drifts inside, and he’s a starter for Colombia.”
Corredor, Diniz, Goncalves and everyone who helped shape Jhon Arias will be watching closely as this ever-evolving player aims to continue breaking new ground.
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