Clubs: Feyenoord, Royal Excelsior Mouscron, CA Paranaense, Grêmio Foot-ball Porto Alegrense, Figueirense FC, LOSC Lille Métropole, Olympique Lyonnais

• Left Brazil for Feyenoord aged 18 but did not play for the Rotterdam club, who sent him on a season-long loan to local rivals Excelsior in 2002/03; returned to Brazil, playing for Atlético Paranaense, Grêmio and Figueirense before joining Lille in summer 2006.

• Scored three goals in his first Ligue 1 campaign, eight in the second and 14 in third, helping Lille to a fifth-place finish and UEFA Europa League qualification; also credited with nine assists in 2008/09, the best individual tally in the division, and was voted into the Ligue 1 team of the season.

• Joined Lyon for €18m in July 2009, signing a four-year contract, and scored his first UEFA Champions League goal on Matchday 6 of the 2009/10 edition in a 4-0 home win against Debreceni VSC.

• Hit a 21-minute hat-trick − the first of his career − in a 4-0 win at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard on 21 February 2010; finished the campaign as Les Gones' second top scorer with ten goals.

• Struck his first international goal during a pre-FIFA World Cup friendly against Zimbabwe on 2 June 2010; started all five matches for Brazil at the finals as an attacking left-back in the Roberto Carlos mould.