Striker with two spells at Corinthians retires: “time to call it a day” | OneFootball

On the morning of this Saturday (28), Vagner Silva de Souza, popularly known as Vagner Love, announced his retirement from football after a spell with Retrô, from Pernambuco, where he scored five goals and provided one assist in 24 matches, according to figures from the website Ogol. The now former striker had two spells at Corinthians, the first of them in 2015, after terminating his contract with Shandong Luneng of China.

In his first spell, he got off to a difficult start, facing adaptation problems at the club from Parque São Jorge, then coached by Tite. In the second half of 2015, he took off and was crucial in the campaign for that year’s Brazilian title, Timão’s sixth in its history. He was Corinthians’ second-highest scorer in that triumph with 14 goals and finished among the tournament’s top scorers. In his first spell, he scored goals in 50 matches.

Photo: Daniel Augusto Jr/Corinthians Agency

At the beginning of the following year, he ended up being sold to Monaco of France for 1 million euros (R$ 4.4 million at the time) after the Corinthians squad was “dismantled” as the club was already facing a financial crisis. In January 2019, he returned to Alvinegro after spending two seasons at Besiktas of Turkey. During his second spell, he was decisive in winning that year’s Campeonato Paulista, scoring late in the match the second goal in the state title victory over São Paulo — a 2-1 win — at Neo Química Arena.

In this second period at Corinthians, he scored 13 goals in 36 matches. With that, for Corinthians, he totaled 29 goals and 10 assists in 86 matches — all as a starter — with 54 wins, 40 draws and 27 losses — a 55.65% success rate. Altogether, he won two titles: the Brasileirão (2015) and the Paulistão (2019). The now former center-forward left the club for the second time in mid-2020, when he moved to Kairat, from Cyprus.

Vagner Love began his career in Palmeiras’ youth ranks, where he was promoted to the professional squad of Corinthians’ archrival. Later, he also returned to the club in 2009. As a player, he played for: Palmeiras (twice), CSKA Moscow (Russia, three times), Flamengo (twice), Shandong Luneng (China), Alanyaspor (Turkey), Besiktas (Turkey), Kayrat (Cyprus), Corinthians (twice), Midtjylland (Denmark), Sport, Atlético-GO, Avaí and Retrô.

Check out Vagner Love’s post on social media:

View this photo on Instagram A post shared by Vagner Love (@oficialvagnerlove)

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.