Ramires

Ramires

Ramires Santos do Nascimento (Brazilian Portuguese: [ʁaˈmiɾes ˈsɐ̃tuz du nasiˈmẽtu]; born 24 March 1987), known as Ramires, is a Brazilian former professional footballer. A midfielder, he was comfortable playing in either the centre or right midfielder position. He normally played as a box-to-box midfielder role because of his energy in supporting defensive and attacking play.

Ramires began his career playing for Royal Sport Club, at Barra do Piraí, 114 km north-west of Rio de Janeiro. In 2005, he signed for Joinville, before joining Cruzeiro, with whom he spent just over two seasons, appearing in 61 league matches and scoring 10 times. In 2009, Ramires moved to Portugal and signed for Benfica. He spent one season with Benfica in which he helped them to the Primeira Liga title and Taça da Liga. He then joined English club Chelsea in the summer of 2010 and won every major domestic and European competition with them. In January 2016, Ramires signed for Jiangsu Suning for £25 million.

Ramires is a former Brazilian international, making his debut on 6 June 2009 in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Uruguay. He was in the teams which won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics. As well being a member of the Brazil national team for the 2010 World Cup, 2011 Copa América and 2014 World Cup, he was capped 52 times.