Júnior Negrão

After playing in the youth squads of local teams Fast Club and Nacional for four years, Júnior came through the youth system of the latter squad and was first aggregated to the first team in 2005.[6] Although he didn't register a single appearance in the national league, he rapidly became a revelation for the club in the state league Campeonato Amazonense: throughout his first couple of seasons as a professional player, Júnior scored a staggering amount of 14 goals in 14 matches, including one against Cruzeiro in a national cup match.[6]

His impressive performances for Nacional made him earn a partnership with agent Eduardo Uram (co-owner of Brazilian investment fund Europe Sports Group) and attracted several high-profile teams across the nation, and it was Corinthians that eventually signed the promising center-forward in 2007. However, Júnior's experience with the São Paulo-based club turned out to be disappointing: he registered his only appearance for the senior team (as well as his only appearance in a national top-tier match) on July 22, 2007, replacing Finazzi at the start of the second half of a 0-3 home loss against Náutico.[7] As a result, he got involved in Corinthians' disastrous season, which culminated in a final 17th place and the first relegation to the national second-tier in the club's history. Despite all of this, Júnior remembers his year at Corinthians as "a wonderful experience" that helped him study "a totally different scenario" and mature as a person.[6]

Following this quick rise and fall, in 2008 Júnior moved to the adjacent state of Minas Gerais to join Tombense, hoping he would get way more chances to play. However, since it had first become a professional club in 1998, Tombense had been facing an extremely heavy crisis for years: they had never managed to take part in the national league, yet (due to their low rate at a federal level) and, at the time of Júnior's arrival, they were sustaining their sixth season of inactivity in just ten years.[8] The unstable condition of the club, together with a lack of support from the ESG management due to the Brazilian's "economically unfruitful" playing position,[9] hugely affected Júnior's career (and so it went for several other players), as the center-forward began what eventually ended up to be a shockingly long cycle of loan spells across Brazil and Europe.[3][9]

During his first couple of years at Tombense, Júnior went on loan four times (twice a year), with mixed results: his spells at Madureira (in Série C), Belenenses (in the Portuguese Primeira Liga) and CRAC (in Série D) were disastrous, as he collected a bunch of appearances only with the former team. On the other hand, the brief spell at ABC in the second half of 2009 was a return to form for him: the club performed poorly in Série B, finishing in last place and getting relegated, but Júnior found enough time to get 21 appearances and score 10 goals. In the process, he also scored the first hat-trick of his career in a thrashing 6-2 home win against Brasiliense.[10]

Meanwhile, Tombense was re-abilitated to compete in the federal system of Campeonato Mineiro,[8] but this didn't prevent Júnior from many other years of roaming, due to continuous loans. He started 2010 with another underwhelming experience, this time at Figueirense, where he featured just once in Série B, but also scored five goals in just four matches of the state league Campeonato Catarinense: then, in the summer of the same year, he got his first proper chance to shine in European football.

After a few weeks spent training with Germinal Beerschot (now defunct and heired by a new team) as a trialist, Júnior signed a one-year loan deal with the Belgian side on August 28, 2010.[11] In his first pre-season game, he scored two goals, one from a free kick and the other one being a penalty, thus helping his side to a 5–3 win against Gent.

His official debut in the Jupiler Pro League came on September 11, 2010, when he replaced Bavon Tshibuabua at the 63th minute of a 1-0 home win against Charleroi.[12] Ten days after, he blessed his first presence in the starting XI by scoring a hat-trick, which were also his first three goals in the Belgian top-tier league, although he couldn't help his side avoid a 4-3 away loss against Zulte Waregem.[13]

In the end, Germinal Beerschot finished in 13th place (subsequently missing the qualification to the Europa League) and reached the quarter-finals of the national cup, before being eliminated by Cercle Brugge. Considering all of this, Júnior had a pretty fine season, closing his spell in Belgium with a complessive amount of 22 appearances (most of which as a starter) and eight goals.

The following season, Júnior kept on gaining experience in Europe, as he joined Swiss side Lausanne-Sport. The Brazilian center-forward made his debut in the Super League on July 30, 2011, replacing Matt Moussilou at the 87th minute of a 2-1 home win against FC Zürich.[14]

In comparison to the previous season, Júnior had less game time, being primarily used as a back-up striker both for the aforementioned Moussilou and Jocelyn Roux: nevertheless, he find enough space to add new highlights to his career and ended his experience in Switzerland with a total amount of 23 appearances and nine goals.

At the end of the loan at Lausanne, in 2012 Júnior returned to Tombos, but still had to face another year of exile from his home team: in fact, he was loaned at Guarani, where he played his third Série B championship. Nonetheless, in the subsequent couple of years Tombense finally gained enough stability both on and off the pitch, and their good results in the Campeonato Mineiro were crucial to gift the club with its first participation to the national football league system ever, then unexpectedly turned into a huge success when they beat Brasil de Pelotas in the final (after a penalty shoot-out) and won a historic promotion to the national third-tier.

Júnior played a considerable contribute in both seasons (especially the former one), even if his game time was limited to the federal league and both the seasons were split between Tombense and another loans, respectively, at América-RN and América-MG, twice again in Série B.

In 2015, the striker played what still represents his last season in Brazil, joining Oeste on yet another loan deal. Despite slightly falling out of form through the second half of the year, Júnior scored four goals and made five assists to help the Barueri-based side remain in the national second-tier, aside of featuring regularly in the Série A2 of the Campeonato Paulista.

The expiration of Júnior's spell at Oeste put an end to a whopping amount of eleven consecutive loan spells, distributed over seven years and four different countries: Brazil, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland.

The following year, the Brazilian agreed the contract terms to sign for Thai side Muangthong United on a permanent basis, thus leaving Tombense after seven years and starting a whole new experience in Asian football. At the time, the club listed local stars such as Chanathip Songkrasin and Kawin Thamsatchanan in its roster. Júnior joined the club on their tour of several ASEAN countries, and made his debut in a friendly match against Vietnamese side Becamex FC: in the same occasion, he headed his first goal in (whereas another one was invalidated due to offside), but Muangthong eventually suffered a 2-1 loss.[15]

He actually started his first official match on February 2, 2016, when Muangthong beat Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta'zim at the penalty shoot-out in a match regarding the qualification round to the AFC Champions League group stage. Júnior played for 105 minutes, before being substituted by Teerasil Dangda in the second extra-time.[16] Unfortunately, he failed to make a good impression in that occasion, as well as his two following features for Muangthong: a 3-0 loss against Shanghai SIPG in the third round of qualification of the CL and a 3-1 loss against Buriram United in the Kor Royal Cup.[17]

Following these underwhelming performances, the club soon decided to arrange a loan spell for Júnior, who joined fellow Thai side Pattaya United and left Muangthong having collected only three appearances. As the loan was performed before the start of the national league, the Brazilian ended up debuting in the competition with Pattaya instead of Muangthong, playing in a 2-1 away loss against Chonburi FC for all the 90 minutes. He scored his first goal in Thailand on March 16, 2016, in a 3-3 home draw against Chiangrai United.[18] He had to wait for two matches before finding the net again, but following his goal against Army United he went on scoring for five consecutive matches, bagging a brace in three occasions: also thanks to Júnior's contribute, Pattaya won every single one of those fixtures.

Being featured on the pitch from the front to the back of the match in the most part of the occasions, Júnior kept on scoring regularly, and even scored a hat-trick (the fourth of his career) in Pattaya's last fixture of the season, a 4-1 home victory against Nakhon Ratchasima.

This way, what initially seemed to be a difficult season for the center-forward turned into the most successful year of his career: having scored 20 goals in the Thai League, he joined Dragan Bošković and Heberty as the second top scorer ex aequo of the competition (with the first one being Cleiton Silva, Júnior's fellow Brazilian and team-mate at Muangthong just some months before), and he gave Pattaya (now defunct and renamed to Samut Prakan City) a huge helping hand to stay afloat in the local top-tier.

Following his exploit in Thailand, Júnior gained popularity throughout the continent: in 2017, he decided to join South Korean team Daegu FC, which had just got promoted to K League 1 again and included the striker in its roster alongside fellow Brazilians Evandro and Cesinha.[19]

Unfortunately, the adventure with the "Sky Blues" had a horrible start for the center-forward: picked for the starting XI in the first game of the season against Gwangju, Júnior suffered an injury at the 52th minute of the match and got ruled out for four months. Once he got on the pitch again in August, though, he quickly bounced back. Initially used a substitute in order to facilitate his full recover, at the third occasion since his return Júnior scored the winner in another match against Gwangju, rebounding the ball in the back of the net after Yoon Bo-sang saved his penalty kick.

Another goal from the bench in a draw against Sangju Sangmu and a winning brace against Pohang Steelers, with the latter being the first game he played from the start since his injury in March, gave Júnior his confidence (and a regular spot) in the team back. During the regular season, he went on to score six times more (another brace against Ulsan Hyundai, one goal against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and a hat-trick in the last game, against Jeonnam Dragons), then found the net other two times during the relegation round, once more against Pohang (when he also assisted Evandro's opening goal) and Gwangju.

Having scored 12 goals in only 16 matches since his return, Júnior became Daegu's top scorer and one of the key players in the team's successful fight to stay in the national top-tier, together with team-mates Jo Hyeon-woo, Kim Sun-min and Cesinha. However, as the first half of his season got kneecapped by injuries, he lost a place in the league's Best XI to Lee Keun-ho and general top scorer Johnatan.[20]

Following his satisfying spell at Daegu, in 2018 Júnior joined former rivals Ulsan Hyundai on a free transfer. He made his debut with the Kim do-hoon-guided "Horangi" on February 13, 2018, coming in for Yohei Toyoda at the 76th minute of a 3-3 away draw against Melbourne Victory in the first game of AFC Champions League's group stage.[21] His first match in the K League 1 was actually on March 1, when he replaced Oh Se-hun at the 56th minute of a 2-0 away loss against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.[22]

Originally supposed to be a back-up striker for teammates Kim Seung-jun and Toyoda, following the injury crisis of the former and the departure of the latter he began to find more and more space in the squad,[23] scoring his first goal for Ulsan against Pohang Steelers and continuing his streak for three more matches, against Gangwon, his former team Daegu and FC Seoul: plus, he scored a brace in the AFC Champions League as the "Horangi" thrashed Melbourne Victory 6-2. However, during the following game (against Gyeongnam) he suffered a new injury and got ruled out for a month.

As the K League stopped throughout the whole month of June, due to the participation of the South Korean national team to the World Cup (Ulsan player Park Joo-ho was included in the 23-men list for the tournament), Júnior had more time to recover and returned on the pitch as soon as the competition restarted in July: he immediately scored other two goals against Sangju, then had to wait four more games before finding the net again, in two consecutive matches against Daegu and Jeju United. After another couple of goalless appearances, on August 15 the Brazilian striker started a goal streak that would last for exactly a month, as he scored against Gyeongnam (a brace, plus an assist for Kim Seung-jun), Daegu, Sangju (two times), Seoul (also two times), Incheon United and Pohang: in four out of six occasions, Ulsan won the match.

Júnior's impressive state of form continued for the rest of the year, as he added other five goals between regular season and championship round in K League, as well as three goals (two against Gimhae FC and one against Suwon Samsung Bluewings) in the Korean FA Cup, which Ulsan eventually lost in a double final to Daegu. At the end of the year, the center-forward turned out to be one of his team's most crucial players, as the "Horangi" finished the K League 1 in third place and Júnior gained the same placement in the top scorer chart, with 22 goals (Uroš Đerić and fellow Brazilian Marcão being the only players to top him), as well as a spot in the championship's Best XI, together with his team-mate Richard Windbichler.[24]

The following season began quite in the same fashion for the Brazilian, immediately scored a goal as Ulsan thrashed Malaysian side Perak TBG in a 5-1 home victory to advance to the AFC Champions League's group stage, and then, in his side's first K League 1 game of the year against Suwon, he found the net again and provided an assist for Kim In-sung, thus being fully involved in Ulsan's 2-1 win.

A regular starter throughout the whole year (Joo Min-kyu being the main back-up striker for him), Júnior continued his streak of great performances in South Korea, where he confessed repeated times to "feel at home".[2][5][6][9] However, the "Horangi" experienced a year full of disappointment: in April, they faced a shocking and premature elimination from the KFA Cup against K3 League side Daejeon Korail; after making it through the CL's group stage (where Júnior scored two goals, one against Shanghai SIPG and one against Kawasaki Frontale), they were eliminated in the first phase of the knock-out stage by Suwon; most notably, they failed to win the league title at the last chance of the final round. In fact, although Júnior scored another goal, Ulsan eventually suffered a 1-4 home loss against Pohang, while their direct rivals in the form of Jeonbuk beat Gangwon 1-0 with a goal by Son Jun-ho: although both the teams finished with 79 points, Jeonbuk was declared winner due to a better goal difference. Despite of massive heart-break, thanks to his 19 goals Júnior ended up being the second top scorer of the league (the first one being Adam Taggart): moreover, he was included in the competition's Best XI again, this time alongside his team-mate Kim Tae-hwan.[25]

The Brazilian and Ulsan prepared for the 2020 season hoping they would find redemption from their past insuccess: unfortunately, the "Horangi" managed to play just one game, a 1-1 home draw against FC Tokyo in the AFC Champions League's group stage (where Júnior played for all of the 90 minutes without scoring) before all of the national, continental and international competitions were suspended and/or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

Despite having faced a difficult situation during the first months of 2020, South Korea was the first nation in the world to restart national competitions:[5] on May 9, 2020, just one day after the match between Jeonbuk and Suwon marked the official re-start both of K League and world football,[26][27] Ulsan made his seasonal debut with a 4-0 home win against Sangju Sangmu: Júnior was a protagonist of the match, having scored two goals (one in action and one on a penalty kick) and assisting one for Lee Sang-heon,[28] and his outstanding performance inadvertedly forecasted what happened to be the best season of his lifetime.[2][9] In the first ten games of K League 1, the Brazilian scored twelve goals, including braces against Sangju and Suwon and a hat-trick against Incheon. After this last game, he went on a goal streak of four games, with braces against his former club Daegu and Sangju again, as well as single goals against Gangwon and Busan IPark. As the most part of the national and continental competitions around the globe became operative again only between June and July, shortly after the first half of the year Júnior found himself to be the temporary top scorer in the world, gaining international cover from the press and being praised in his homeland country as "O artilheiro do mundo" (literally, "the world's top bomber" in Portuguese).[2][5]

Unfortunately, the striker's unmatched form still wasn't sufficient to bring more fortune to Ulsan: at the start of November, the "Horangi" had lost both the K League title (again) and the KFA Cup to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, having lost every match but one (the first leg of the double cup final, where Júnior scored a goal) against the "Green Warriors". At least, the Brazilian could add to his personal achievements his third inclusion in a row in K League 1's Best XI, two prizes as Player of the Month and, finally, the title of top scorer: with 26 goals in 27 games, he set a new record for the best goals to game ratio (0.96) of any player in the national league's history.[2][9]

Júnior celebrating his first goal in the 2020 AFC Champions League Final.

However, the season wasn't finished yet for Ulsan: while still dealing with the double loss, the "Horangi", including Júnior himself, flew to Qatar to reach the centralised venues that would host all the remaining games of the group stage and the knockout phase of the AFC Champions League. This is where a new leaf was turned in the team's year: they began the adventure by winning all of the five remaining matches of their group against FC Tokyo, Shanghai Shenhua and Perth Glory, with Júnior scoring a goal in each one of the games against the Australian side, also adding an assist for Kim In-sung's opener to the second one. Then, they beat Melbourne Victory, Beijing Sinobo Guoan and Vissel Kobe to make it through the knockout stage and reach the final: the Brazilian striker ended up goalless in the first of these games, but then scored a brace against the Chinese side and sent the decisive penalty in the back of the net to close the extra time against the Japanese side.

Finally, on 19 December 2020, Ulsan faced Persepolis in the AFC Champions League Final: the Iranian side initially took the lead thanks to Mehdi Abdi, but then Júnior scored one penalty for half (the first one being rebounded in the back of the net, after Hamed Lak saved the Brazilian's first attempt), thus resulting one of the key members, together with team-mates like midfielder Yoon Bit-garam (future MVP of the tournament), defender Kim Kee-hee and goalkeeper Jo Su-huk,[2] in the 2–1 win over Persepolis and consequent victory of the continental competion (which marked Ulsan's first success in Asia since 2012).[2][29] As a result to his miraculous performances, the center-forward was included in the Champions League's Best XI:[30] plus, thanks to his seven goals he became the top scorer together with Abderrazak Hamdallah, even though the official award went to the Moroccan striker, since he played fewer minutes than Júnior throughout the whole competition.[31]

Moreover, Júnior's marvellous 2020 rewarded him as the third Best Footballer in the continent of the year, according to Fox Sports Asia (only Sardar Azmoun and Son Heung-min topped him),[32] as well as the fifth most prolific striker of the year, behind the likes of world-famous superstars such as Erling Haaland, Romelu Lukaku, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski.[2][33]

After four years full of awesome achievements, the Brazilian's fairy-tale journey in South Korea came to an end on January 28, 2021: after some speculation during the previous weeks about his possible transfer to Changchun Yatai,[3] on that day Júnior published an official farewell speech on Ulsan's YouTube channel, announcing that the club and him agreed to let his contract expire, as he "wanted and needed to change", but also stressed that "he would always support the team in the future".[1] Many experts from press indicated new manager Hong Myung-Bo's plan to assemble a younger squad as one of the main reasons for the Brazilian's departure.[2][3]

Anyway, Júnior closed the most successful period of his career to date with stellar numbers: in 110 total games with Daegu FC and Ulsan Hyundai, he scored a total amount of 79 goals (12 in 16 games for the former team, 67 in 94 games for the latter) and provided nine assists, being included in the league's Best XI thrice in a row, winning three titles as Player of the Month, one as the league's Top Scorer and one AFC Champions League title.[2][3][4][9]