Ramires Santos do Nascimento commonly known as Ramires (born 24 March 1987 in Barra do Piraí, Rio de Janeiro), is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Brazilian national team. A midfielder, he is comfortable in either the centre or the right of midfield. He has also been deployed as a defensive midfielder playing a box-to-box midfielder role because of his energy in supporting defensive and offensive play.
Ramires began his career playing for Royal Sport Club. In 2005, he signed for Joinville, before joining Cruzeiro, whom he spent just over two seasons with appearing in 61 league matches and scoring 10 times. In 2009, Ramires moved to Portugal and signed for SL Benfica from Cruzeiro. He spent one season with Benfica in which he helped them to the Liga Sagres title, five points clear of second place Braga. He then joined English club Chelsea in the summer of 2010 on a four-year contract. He made his Chelsea debut in a 2-0 win against Stoke in late August 2010 and scored his first goal in a 4-0 victory against Bolton.
Ramires is a Brazilian international. He made his Brazil debut on 6 June 2009, in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification game against Uruguay. He represented the Brazilian national team for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. Ramires represented his country at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China and won a Bronze medal.
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 was always starring 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.
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.
