Júlio Baptista

Júlio César Clemente Pereira Baptista (born 1 October 1981) is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder or a forward.

He is the current manager of Valladolid B.

Baptista is nicknamed "The Beast" due to his size and physical presence on the football field and "Hulio" due to an interview with former teammate Joaquín.

He began his career as a defensive midfielder, and after a series of impressive performances for his hometown squad São Paulo FC, Baptista signed for Sevilla FC in 2003.

On 3 August 2003, Sevilla FC unveiled Baptista as their newest signing.

He cost the Spanish club £1.75 million (US$3.75 million).

Baptista made it clear he was confident that he would succeed in Spain.

He donned the No.19 jersey and began playing as an attacking midfielder.

Baptista settled in quickly, scoring a double in Sevilla's 4–0 victory over Racing de Santander.

As the season progressed, his good form continued, including a double against Levante UD and once more hitting the back of the net against Racing de Santander, this time with four goals as Sevilla picked up a 5–2 victory at home.

His form attracted the attention of several big clubs, but despite interest from English giants Arsenal, Baptista remained at Sevilla for the following season, in which he once more showed his worth registering 25 goals in all competitions.

Between 2003 and 2005, Baptista made 81 appearances in all competitions for Sevilla and scored 50 goals in total.

With this goal tally came a summer of transfer rumours in which Real Madrid battled it out with Arsenal for his signature.

Upon signing for Sevilla, he was converted into a forward, and in his two seasons, he scored 50 goals, leading to his 2005 transfer to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

After two unsuccessful seasons at Real Madrid with a loan spell at Arsenal sandwiched in between, Baptista transferred to Roma in Italy.

On 25 July 2005, Real Madrid confirmed the signing of the long-time Arsenal target for a fee of £13.8 million (€20 million), rising to £16.9 million (€24.5 million); Baptista signed a five-year deal.

Baptista said he had chosen to remain in Spain at least one more year, as transferring to Real Madrid would allow him to gain dual citizenship (in Spain as well as Brazil), which would enable him to travel across Europe freely.

He also explained he did not want to move to England at this time.

Upon his arrival at Real Madrid, Baptista was awarded the No.8 jersey.

The season looked very promising for Real Madrid; the big-money signings of Robinho from Santos FC, Baptista, and Sergio Ramos from Sevilla meant that Real Madrid were tipped to end their trophy drought.

It was not to be, however.

At Real, Baptista was often played out of position as a left-winger to accommodate the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Guti in the Spanish side's attacking line-up.

For this reason, he was unable to find the form that led many of Europe's top clubs to want to sign him.

He managed to score just eight league goals throughout the 2006 league campaign.

The season ended in disappointment as Real Madrid yet again ended the season without a trophy.

Baptista insisted that Arsenal were still in pursuit of him, but he made it clear he wanted to fulfill his contract with Real Madrid.

At the end of August 2006, with the transfer window about to close, press reports linked him with a move to either Tottenham Hotspur or Arsenal.

The latter was part of a possible swap deal that included José Antonio Reyes.

Baptista went on to strenuously claim that he was not interested in a move away from Real Madrid.

However, on 31 August 2006, the day of the transfer deadline, Baptista moved to Arsenal in exchange for Reyes.

The deal saw both players signing on to 12-month loans at their new clubs.

He scored his first goal for Arsenal against Hamburg in the Champions League on 21 November 2006.

Baptista struggled to score in the Premier League, managing just three goals in 24 league matches.

At the end of the 2006–07 season, he was no longer required by Arsenal and returned to Real Madrid, as the loan deal finished.

After the appointment of Bernd Schuster as head coach of Madrid, Baptista played far more often and in his preferred central position.

Baptista went on to score first in a 3–0 victory that knocked Lazio out of the Champions League.

Baptista, however, found scoring form in the League Cup, with six goals in the competition, including a club record four goals in Arsenal's quarter-final victory against Liverpool on 9 January 2007, in a 6–3 win for Arsenal; beside his 4 goals, he also missed a penalty kick in that game, and missed two other penalties that season against Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth.

Baptista also scored twice in Arsenal's semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur (having also scored an own goal at the other end), but they lost 2–1 to Chelsea in the final.

In total, Baptista scored 10 goals in 35 appearances for Arsenal.

In January 2011 he returned to Spain by signing for Málaga, and two years later went back to Brazil with Cruzeiro.