Renato Augusto

Renato Soares de Oliveira Augusto (born 8 February 1988) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Brazilian club Corinthians.

Club Career

Flamengo

Renato was hailed as one of the best products of Flamengo's youth academy in recent years, and had been close to a deal with Palermo in 2007. His style of play, combining decisive passes with good control of the ball, pace and dribbling efforts led him to being capped for Brazil at under-20 level; his career with Flamengo had nevertheless been plagued by injuries.

Bayer Leverkusen

Renato signed for German Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen for an unknown fee, though thought to be €10 million, 60% of which was retained by Flamengo; the remaining 40% were owned by the Traffic and MFD investment groups, that paid €1.5 million each for a share in Renato Augusto's transfer fee, earlier in 2008.

Renato made an immediate impact, becoming one of the fan favorites very quickly with his swiftness, awareness, teamwork, and his technical abilities. Despite usually playing on the right side, with Leverkusen, he began playing in the hole, just behind the striker.

Despite being plagued with injury in the 2010–11 season, just like the previous ones in Germany, Augusto maintained stellar form, scoring on three occasions in one-goal lead victories. On 13 March, he scored a memorable goal where he scored a match-winner in 82nd minute against Mainz 05, giving Bayer Leverkusen a valuable victory, and vaulting them into the title race.

Corinthians

On 20 December 2012, Bayer Leverkusen confirmed that Renato would leave for Corinthians for a reported fee of €3.5 million. In 2014, after being properly diagnosed and treated, he played 44 games in the year, and in 2015, he was awarded the Bola de Ouro (Golden Ball) for leading Corinthians to the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A title.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Ренато Аугусто (russian)