Vágner Love

Vágner Silva de Souza (born 11 June 1984), known as Vágner Love, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Série A club Atlético Goianiense.

He is a forward who has been described by World Soccer Magazine as possessing "mobility, flair, awareness and powerful shooting".

The second name Love was given to Vágner while playing for Palmeiras as he was known for his playboy lifestyle.

Over two spells, Vágner Love scored 117 goals across 241 official games in eight seasons at CSKA Moscow.

In the 2003 season, he helped them to return to the Série A, the nation's top-flight division.

Vágner Love scored four goals in 20 games for the Brazil national team, winning the Copa América in 2004 and 2007.

Vágner Love started his career with Palmeiras.

In August 2004, Vágner Love was bought by Russian Premier League club CSKA Moscow, where he joined fellow Brazilian creative midfielder Daniel Carvalho, who had transferred before start of the season.

Upon his arrival, Vagner Love had an immediate impact on the results of the team, helping CSKA qualify to the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League group stage with 3 goals in 3 preliminary games, and 9 goals in the remaining 12 league games as the team finished second in a close title race against cross-city rivals Lokomotiv, losing just by one point.

He also played in every Champions League group stage game and scored one goal against PSG.

In December 2004, CSKA finished third in the group and was relegated to the 2004–05 UEFA Cup knockout stage.

At the end of the football season in Russia, Vagner Love was linked with a move to Corinthians due to homesickness and having trouble adjusting to life in Moscow.

However, CSKA refused to sell or loan him.

He won 14 honours in the Russian capital, scoring in their win in the 2005 UEFA Cup Final to become the youngest player to score in a UEFA Cup final.

On 18 May 2005, at the age of 22 years, 92 days, Vágner Love scored the final goal in CSKA's 3–1 victory over Sporting CP in the 2005 UEFA Cup Final at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, making him the youngest player to score in a UEFA Cup final.

In addition to winning the UEFA Cup, he has gone on to win the Russian Premier League title and Russian Cup in both 2005 and 2008, as well as the Russian Super Cup in 2006.

Vágner Love became the top scorer in the 2008 season (the first top scorer from outside the former Soviet Union) and the top scorer of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, the latter with 11 goals in 8 games.

On 28 August 2009, following a run of poor form for CSKA, Vágner Love was signed by his former club Palmeiras on a one-year loan deal until 31 July 2010.

CSKA press spokesman Sergei Aksenov claimed that Vágner Love left Russia due to "urgent family problems demand(ing) his presence at home in Brazil".

Vágner Love had a respectable return of 5 goals in 12 games for Palmeiras, but his loan spell was ended prematurely: After publicly stating his concern over his safety at Palmeiras due to off-field altercations with fans, as well as his desire to play for his childhood team Flamengo, the deal was ended early on 14 January 2010.

On 15 January 2010, the day after his loan was terminated with Palmeiras, Vágner Love officially signed a loan deal with reigning Brazilian champions Flamengo, through till July 2010.

He made his Flamengo debut against Bangu in the Campeonato Carioca on 23 January 2010, scoring two goals.

Vágner Love performed very well playing for Flamengo, scoring 23 goals in 26 matches.

His successful strike partnership with Adriano was dubbed by fans as "Império do Amor", or "The Love Empire", in reference to Adriano's nickname "The Emperor" and Vágner Love's artistic surname.

The presence of midfielder Dejan Petković in Flamengo's squad made supporters start the year with high expectations—it was widely believed that the Serbian's passing and free-kick abilities, coupled with Adriano's and Vagner's prolific scoring, would produce a top team.

However, the team failed to advance past the quarter-finals in the 2010 Copa Libertadores.

Shortly after, Adriano revealed he wanted to try playing in Italy again, and Flamengo could not convince CSKA to extend Vágner Love's loan, thus dismantling the once-promising "Love Empire".

After a change of presidency, on 12 January 2013, Flamengo did not pay his pendencies of rights with CSKA, and Vágner Love had to leave the club, returning to Russia after a one-year absence.

On 16 January, he was "re-presented" in Moscow and signed a three-year contract extension.

He continued his goal scoring record with CSKA on his return to the club, and propelled the club to the Premier League title in 2013 after a goalless draw with Kuban Krasnodar on 18 May, the club's first league title since 2006.

On 24 July 2013, Vágner Love transferred to Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng in a reported €12 million transfer.

On 20 March, he opened the scoring in an eventual 2–0 win against Paris Saint-Germain, the Parisian club's first home defeat since May 2014.

On 8 February 2015, Vágner Love rescinded his contract with Shandong Luneng and signed with Corinthians in Brazil.

He went on to become the top scorer of the club during the national championship as Corinthians went on to win the Série A that year.

On 13 January 2016, Ligue 1 club Monaco announced the signing of Vágner Love on an 18-month deal for a €1 million transfer fee.

On 30 August 2016, Turkish Süper Lig club Alanyaspor reached an agreement with Monaco for the transfer of Love.

On 31 August 2016, he was officially presented after passed the medical.

Having failed to score in his first seven appearances for the club, Love scored 23 goals in 20 matches that followed to earn the Golden Boot award.

On 26 January 2018, Turkish Süper Lig club Beşiktaş reached an agreement with Alanyaspor for the transfer of Love.

On 25 January 2019, Love returned to Corinthians on a deal until the end of 2020 after rescinding his contract with Beşiktaş.