Wágner Ferreira dos Santos (born 29 January 1985), simply known as Wágner, is a Brazilian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

Club career

Born in

Sete Lagoas Sete Lagoas (meaning 'Seven Lagoons' in Portuguese) is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The municipal area is 537;km² while the population was 241,835 in 2020. Location Sete Lagoas is situated about 70 kilometres from Belo Horizon ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, Wágner started his career at

América Mineiro The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, where he shone along with

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...

, an international Brazilian player, who, coincidentally, is again Wagner's colleague in

Fluminense FC Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, ...

. Wágner went on to play for Cruzeiro, another team from

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

. Cruzeiro sold Wágner to

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

after a transfer fee of around €9 million in January 2007, but a clause in his contract allowed him to come back to Cruzeiro in June 2007 after Al-Ittihad could not finish paying his transfer fee. He was important in Al-Ittihad's championship run. On 7 August 2009 Championat.ru confirmed that

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москв ...

had acquired the Brazilian player, for 6 million euros. On 17 January 2011 he signed for

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

for €3 million. After a feud with Gaziantepspor manager

Abdullah Ercan Abdullah Ercan (born 8 December 1971 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a retired Turkey national football team, Turkish international Association football, footballer and manager. Coaching career Honours Trabzonspor *Turkish Cup: 1992, 1995 *Turkish S ...

, Wágner's contract was terminated by a mutual agreement.

International career

He has played for the Brazil U17 and U21 squad. He was also called up for the Brazil national team for a friendly in 2006, following the World Cup in Germany, by coach Dunga, but never played; the game finished Brazil 1-1 Norway. He was also placed in standby lists for the 2007 Copa América and the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Style of play

Wagner is a left footed offensive midfielder and striker, but is also working on using his right foot. Despite playing all of the 2006 season as an offensive midfielder, he led the Campeonato Brasileiro, in its early stages, with eight goals in ten games. He is a free-kick specialist, scoring a majority of his goals through free-kicks.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Cruzeiro *

Campeonato Mineiro Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF (Federação Mineira de Futebol). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: befor ...

: 2006, 2008, 2009 ;Al-Ittihad *

Saudi Premier League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

: 2006–07 ;Fluminense *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

Individual

* Bola de Prata: 2006, 2008

References

External links

*
CBF
{{2008 Bola de Prata Living people 1985 births Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers América Futebol Clube (MG) players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Gaziantepspor footballers Fluminense FC players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players CR Vasco da Gama players Al-Khor SC players Saudi Pro League players Qatar Stars League players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Russian Premier League players Süper Lig players Chinese Super League players Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar People from Sete Lagoas