Luis Sanabio

Jose Luiz Guimaraes Sanabio Junior is a professional football player from Brazil who plays as a striker. Junior began his playing career at the youth team of Ferroviario Atletico Clube in 1996. After a couple of seasons, he was picked up by Fortaleza where he made his first team debut. In 1999, after impressing at an early age, Junior was on his way to Europe and he signed a deal with Cordoba CF, from Spain.

After just 5 games in a single season, he moved to KSK Beveren, in Belgium where he became a regular starter for the first team. Although Junior scored just 2 goals, his 29 appearances were based on his ability to create goals for his teammates as well. In 2001, Junior made the move to France and played in the first division side, AC Ajaccio. He didn’t last long in France and just 2 goals from 9 games meant that he would not stay at Ajaccio for too long either.

He came back to Brazil and signed up with Treze Futebol Clube, in 2002, but before playing a single game, moved to England and signed up with Walsall for a season. After scoring 15 goals in 35 games, he was picked up by Derby County in 2003. Over the next two seasons, he would play with the club and score four goals in 30 games. In the middle of that two-year stint, Junior also went on a loan deal to Rotherham United where he played 12 games and scored twice.

He moved to Watford in 2005 before moving to Sweden, later that year, and signing up with Odense Boldklub and, then, Malmo FF. After 9 goals for Odense, in 16 games, is move to a bigger club seemed likely however, every time Junior would get an opportunity with a bigger team, his scoring rate would drop. Malmo was an exception to this as he scored 17 times in a season and got a transfer to FC Copenhagen.

Unable to make a place for himself, Junior only played 17 games for the side, scoring 6 goals, before being sent out on loan to FC Nordsjeelland and Randers FC, both in 2009. He played 21 games for these two teams, in total, scoring 10 goals.

In 2010, his European journey came to an end and Junior was back in Brazil, signing up with Esporte Clube Vitoria. Despite some strong performances, the consistency was missing in Junior’s game and he moved to Ceara in 2011 before, almost immediately, moving onto Esporte Clube Bahia.