Brazilian midfielder Jose Mauricio

Jose Mauricio is a Brazilian defensive midfielder, who is best known to Russian fans for his performances for Grozny's Terek. He started his career in Brazil, but, like many local football players, he decided to move to Russia to play European football and receive significantly more money than at home. Jose Mauricio is not a stellar player, however he copes with his tasks at a fairly high level.

Carier start

Jose Mauricio was born on October 21, 1988 in Brazil, where he started playing soccer since childhood. At eleven years he enrolled in the football academy of the local club "Corinthians", who trained many young talents who later played in Europe. For seven years he was in the system of this club, until in 2006 he moved to another Brazilian club - "Fluminese", with which he soon entered into a professional contract. However, for a long time the midfielder was not considered as a player of the basic structure, and only in the third year as a member of the adult team he began to get more often in the basis.

In 2009, scouts from Europe followed him closely, after which in January 2010 it was announced that José Mauricio was moving to Terek. The Russian club paid 200 thousand euro for the football player, and the Brazilian had a chance to show himself in the new championship.

Transition to "Terek"

Since the first season of Jose Mauricio, photos of which began to appear on the pages of local sports publications, got a place in the starting lineup. He spent 28 matches, scoring five goals, and became favorites of the fans. Over the next four and a half seasons Mauricio appeared on the field 146 more times, scoring twenty-five goals. Unfortunately, with the "Terek" he failed to take a single trophy, and the Brazilian dreamed of winning something in his career.

And he got a wonderful chance - in the winter of 2015 his contract with the club, which he could extend, was running out. The management offered him this opportunity, but suddenly on the horizon there was interest from one of the strongest clubs in Russia, the St. Petersburg "Zenith". Of course, footballer Jose Mauricio refused to extend the contract with the "Terek" in order to take advantage of the chance given him.

The game for Zenit

Of course, the level of the game in the new club was much higher, and Mauricio realized that he was in for serious competition - just look at the standard pair of midfielders of the club, Spaniard Javi Garcia, captain of Zenit, and Belgian Axel Witsel. But Jose did not give up and already in the first half of the game for "Zenith" appeared on the field 15 times, scoring two goals. In the current season, the Brazilian's statistics were no worse: he came out in 11 games and scored two goals, but it should be noted that almost all the time he goes on to replace, but not in the starting lineup. However, given the fact that he leaves almost in every match, he is unlikely to have any reason to complain. In the summer of 2016, he extended the contract with the club until 2019, so he still has many opportunities to help his team. And, of course, we must not forget that Mauricio has already begun to receive what he came to Zenit for - trophies. In 2016 the club won first the Cup of Russia, and then the Super Cup of Russia.

National team appearances

To date, Jose Mauricio has not received a single call to the national team of Brazil - so far, coaches do not believe that he has enough qualities to represent the country. Perhaps, if he will go to the field more often as part of Zenit, he will be able to qualify for a late challenge, as happened, for example, with Dante and Bayern. For now, he only has five matches for the Brazilian youth team in the age group under 17.