Ramires Santos Do Nascimento

Basic information

Personal information
Full name	Ramires Santos do Nascimento
Date of birth	24 March 1987 (age 25)
Place of birth	Barra do Piraí, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Number Current club	7 Chelsea
Youth career
-2005	Royal Sport Club
2005–2006	Joinville
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–2007	Joinville	14	(3)
2007–2009	Cruzeiro	61	(12)
2009–2010	Benfica	26	(4)
2010–	Chelsea	58	(7)
National team‡
2008	Brazil U23	8	(0)
2009–	Brazil	27	(2)
Honours
Competitor for  Brazil Men's Football Bronze 2008 Beijing Team Competition * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:07, 8 May 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23 July 2011

Ramires Santos do Nascimento joined Chelsea in the summer of 2010 on a four-year contract after one season with Benfica, in which he helped them storm to the Liga Sagres title, five points clear of Braga in second place. During that campaign, the 23-year-old midfielder made 26 league appearances, scoring four times including a last-minute winner against Vitoria Guimaraes on his debut.

Rio-born Ramires signed for Benfica from Cruzeiro, on the day he earned his first call-up to the full Brazil squad for the 2009 Confederations Cup, a tournament they easily won, and he went on to help them qualify for the World Cup.

Picked in Dunga's 23-man squad, he appeared in four of their five matches but was suspended for the 2-1 defeat to Holland in the quarter-finals after accumulating two yellow cards. His only start was against Chile in the first knockout round, and so far he has 17 caps, most recently against USA in midweek.

Comfortable in either the centre or the right of midfield, he spent just over two seasons in Belo Horizonte with Cruzeiro, whom he joined from Joinville in 2007, and became a state champion appearing in 61 league matches and scoring 10 times.

A Chelsea debut arrived in the 2-0 win against Stoke in late August, Ramires appearing for the final few minutes in place of Michael Essien, before a first start at West Ham and full games against Blackpool in the Premier League and Newcastle in the Carling Cup. Adaptation to England will take time, but in his first few appearances Ramires has shown plenty of potential.

Club Career

Cruzeiro 

In January 2008, Ramires agreed to a five-year deal with Cruzeiro in a permanent move from Joinville for a fee of $300,000 following a loan period, giving Cruzeiro 70% of the players' economic rights. Joinville kept 30% in the event of any transfers in the future. He was referred to by the fans and media during his time there as the "Queniano Azul", or "Blue Kenyan", due to Cruzeiro's blue kit and his endurance, which was considered reminiscent of Kenyan runners, who are famous for winning many Brazilian running marathons.

Benfica 

On 21 May 2009, Ramires joined Portuguese club Sport Lisboa e Benfica for €7.5 million on a five-year contract with a minimum fee release of €30 million. Ramires starred as an important player for Benfica throughout the season as the Portuguese giants won the league title after a five-year wait. Ramires in his first and only season with Benfica also won the Taça da Liga beating FC Porto 3-0. In June 2010, Benfica sold 50% of the economic rights to Ramires to Jazzy Limited for €6 million.

Chelsea

On 4 August 2010, Benfica announced they had agreed a deal with English Premier League champions Chelsea and his third-party owner for €22 million. Ramires completed his move to Chelsea on 13 August 2010, on a four-year contract. He was handed the number 7 shirt, previously worn by Ukrainian international Andriy Shevchenko.

2010-11 season 

He made his debut on 28 August 2010 against Stoke City, coming on as a substitute in the 84th minute, replacing Michael Essien; Chelsea won the game 2–0. On 11 September 2010, he made his full Premier League debut, starting against West Ham United at Upton Park, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–1 win. He started in Chelsea's 2–0 win over Arsenal on 3 October 2010, winning possession and then putting Ashley Cole through to cross to Didier Drogba for Chelsea's first goal.

He started in Chelsea's 1–0 win over Bolton Wanderers on 29 December 2010, where his performance was praised and was known to have his best game with Chelsea to date, where he made several runs forward and strong tackles winning the balls several times in the midfield. On Chelsea's return fixture at Bolton, Ramires scored his first goal as a Chelsea player in a 4–0 victory at Reebok Stadium. On 15 January 2011, he played the full 90 minutes against Blackburn Rovers in a 2–0 win at Stamford Bridge. On 1 March 2011, he started and played the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 league win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. 

On 20 March 2011, Ramires scored his second Premier League goal in a 2-0 win over Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, he scored alongside fellow Brazilian David Luiz and made a superb individual effort dribbling past three City defenders and scoring past Joe Hart in the top-left corner, which gained him goal of the season for Chelsea. Recent performances have garnered him a fan favourite amongst Chelsea fans, and the nickname "Rambo," due to his tendency to destroy the opposition one by one. On 12 April, he received a second yellow card for a challenge on Nani against Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford. On 8 May, Ramires came on as a second-half substitute for Mikel John Obi against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 2–1 defeat, which effectively gave their rivals the title. At the end of the 2010–11 season, he made 41 appearances and scored two goals for Chelsea in all competitions.

2011–12 season 

On 24 September 2011, Ramires scored two goals in a 4-1 victory over Swansea City. He then scored a goal against Everton, sliding it in from a Juan Mata cross. He suffered a knee injury shortly after, however, but the game ended 3–1 in Chelsea's favour. This appearance was his 50th for the club. On 1 November 2011, Ramires scored his first Champions League goal for Chelsea against Racing Genk. 

Ramires scored his fifth goal of the season in a decisive Champions League encounter against Spanish side Valencia. The final score was 3–0 in favour of Chelsea. He scored his sixth goal of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 2-1 away win, lifting the ball from a tight position into the top left corner of the goalpost leaving Wolves' goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey beaten. On 8 January 2012, Ramires scored his seventh and eighth goals of the 2011–12 season against Portsmouth, beating his personal record of goals in a season. On 28 January, Ramires was stretchered off in the fourth round tie of the FA Cup against Queens Park Rangers. Two hours later, former Chelsea coach André Villas-Boas revealed that the Brazilian would be out for three to four weeks. 

On 5 March 2012, Ramires signed a new five-year contract, keeping him at Chelsea until 2017. Ramires also scored against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Semi final, helping his team beat their rivals 5-1 on the day, and progressing to the finals in which they are due to play Liverpool. 

On 18 April, Ramires took a pass from Frank Lampard and setup Didier Drogba's extra time goal in the Chelsea's 1–0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of the Champion's League semi-finals at Stamford Bridge. Ramires, already booked during the first leg, received a yellow card in the second leg at Nou Camp which would rule him out of the final. In a performance compared to Roy Keane (who scored to inspire his team to a comeback victory in the 1999 Champions League semis despite being suspended for the final with accumulated bookings), Ramires scored a fantastic lobbed shot over Víctor Valdés to help send Chelsea through to the final of the UEFA Champions League (assisted by Lampard, won the award for Chelsea goal of the season) as his goal leveled the aggregate score at 2-2 while putting Chelsea ahead on away goals. Chelsea teammate Fernando Torres added another goal in stoppage time to give Chelsea a 3-2 victory on aggregate and spot in the final with Bayern Munich in the final on 19 May.

On 5th May, Ramires took a pass from Juan Mata and scored at Pepe Reina's near post against Liverpool F.C in the FA Cup Final, helping Chelsea to a 2-1 victory with the help of a second strike from Didier Drogba. Ramires later scored his 5th Premier League goal against Liverpool at Anfield, however Chelsea went on to lose the game 4-1.  He ended a personally successful season by being nominated for the Chelsea Player of the Year award, but lost out to Juan Mata, though he did win the Players' Player of the year Award and Goal of the Season award for his chip against Barcelona.

Photos of Ramires

Album of photos of Ramires Santos do Nascimento: /photos_of_ramires__chelsea_fc-igfa-0-37166-1.htm