Lucas Pierre

When it comes to a holding midfielder's job, few are of the ability of Lucas Pierre Santos Oliveira. In 2000, when Pierre was still part of the youth academy at Esporte Clube Vitoria, he was regularly called into the first team to play a major part in the team's regular season fixtures. He was part of the Vitoria senior team that went on to the Bahia State League title in 2000, although his role was negligible!

After two years in the youth team, Pierre moved to senior football but after not being able to make it into the Vitoria first team, moved to Ituano. From 2002 to 2006, Pierre spent four seasons establishing himself into a top-level professional. He ended up on loan, in 2003, heading out to Parana Clube for a season. He played almost every game that year, before returning to Ituano in 2004. After a few more appearances under his belt, Ituano still felt that there was work to do on Pierre.

They sent him out for a second loan spell, back to Parana Clube for a part of the 2005 season. This time however, Parana reached a deal with Ituano and decided to keep Pierre at the club after the loan spell. Pierre spent 2006 at Parana, playing just 18 games before moving onto Palmeiras in 2007.

In 2008, he was part of the Palmeiras squad that won the Sao Paulo State League title, however, limited playing time was always a worry for Pierre. Although he was sent out on loan, in 2011, to Atletico Mineiro, Pierre made almost 100 appearances for Palmeiras and had become a regular in the first team. With Atletico Mineiro, he's only had one appearance so far, spending most of his time on the bench.