- The 32-year-old Chilean midfielder extended his contract until December 2029, turned down offers from other markets and has become an indispensable figure.
- An undisputed starter alongside Jorginho in midfield, he has made 176 appearances and won nine trophies since arriving in 2022.
José Boto, Flamengo’s director of football, summed it up on 4 September with an observation that has become a certainty in Rio de Janeiro: “Pulgar, who today is a player everyone writes wonderful things about — and rightly so — arrived as just another player.” Erick Pulgar joined on 29 July 2022 from Fiorentina for three million euros, following a loan spell at Galatasaray, with a contract running until December 2025 and without the profile of any of the squad’s biggest stars. Four years later, the club extended his deal until 31 December 2029, one year longer than had been verbally agreed in August, with the player himself explaining why: “The affection of the fans is my greatest reward.”
That affection can be measured in concrete terms. According to O Globo, Flamengo have found that supporters’ engagement with Pulgar on social media “is equivalent to that of the squad’s biggest stars” and are therefore planning to launch a range of merchandise bearing his name, including a figurine wearing the No5 shirt — something previously reserved for Giorgian De Arrascaeta and Gabigol. On 13 September, the Juventude Flamengo supporters’ group visited the Ninho do Urubu — the club’s training centre — to present him with a flag and a plaque. And on 22 September, CONMEBOL Libertadores fans voted him “Hero of the Week” for his performance against Independiente del Valle, the 1-1 draw at the Maracanã that Fla held on to with ten men for almost half an hour to secure their place in the Semifinals.
The numbers tell the story better than the flags. Pulgar has made 176 appearances for Flamengo, recording 111 wins, 39 draws, 26 defeats and six goals. He is the holding midfielder in a team that has won nine trophies with him on the pitch: the 2022 and 2025 CONMEBOL Libertadores, the 2022 and 2024 Copa do Brasil, the 2025 Brasileirão, the 2025 Supercopa and the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Campeonato Carioca titles. He played the full 90 minutes of the Final in Lima against Palmeiras, partnering Jorginho in the double pivot first put together by Filipe Luís in 2025 and inherited by Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim in March. The pair are the engine room of a team with attacking football in its DNA: they win the ball back and distribute it so others can shine.
His place in the starting line-up has come under threat at different points. On 29 June 2025, in the Club World Cup Round of 16 against Bayern, he fractured his right foot and was sidelined for more than three months. On 2 April this year, against Red Bull Bragantino, he was sent off and, in the same incident, suffered an acromioclavicular injury to his right shoulder, ruling him out for another month and a half. He returned at the end of May against Palmeiras and has not relinquished his place since. His release clause for a move abroad had dropped to four million dollars from the July transfer window, and offers followed: the strongest came from Al-Jazira of Abu Dhabi, there was also interest from Saudi Arabia’s Neom, and in July Filipe Luís, by then at Monaco, asked for his signing. Pulgar chose to stay. “It’s what my family and I wanted. The time I’ve spent here, how hard I work and the perseverance I have are what made me the player I am today,” he said after signing his new deal.
What his team-mates see is the same thing that can be felt from the stands at the Maracanã. “Pulgar lifts all of us. He is a player who lives every challenge with intensity, and that automatically spreads through the team,” team-mate Emerson Royal said last August. Zico, the greatest idol in the club’s history, went even further in recent days in an interview with AS Chile: “He is making Flamengo supporters very happy because he is a great professional, a fighter, someone who has understood what it means to wear this shirt.” Even one of his goals — a strike from outside the box into the top corner against Vitória on 9 August, assisted by Léo Pereira — was voted by the fans as the best of the month.
The contrast comes with Chile. Pulgar has not played for his national team since October 2024 and turned down call-ups in March, June and September this year, with La Roja already out of World Cup contention. In a statement issued on 15 September, he denied any conflict with coach Nicolás Córdova and left a line that also says something about him: “There is a new generation that deserves support, space and trust. That should be the focus now.” A Copa América Centenario champion in 2016, with 54 appearances and four goals for the national team, his energy is now fully focused on Rio.
Erick Pulgar will be a key figure for Jardim when the Semifinal tie against Estudiantes in the CONMEBOL Libertadores gets under way. The first leg will be played in La Plata on 15 October, with the return at the Maracanã on 22 October. The two sides met in the Quarter-finals last year, when the eventual champions advanced. Without being captain, without being a goalscorer and without arriving as the club’s most expensive signing, the Chilean has become exactly what any team values most in a holding midfielder: the ability to make decisions, break up play and distribute the ball, while spreading his tireless positive energy to those around him.
