Jose Ramirez Barreto

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Jose Ramirez Barreto (born September 3, 1976 in Alegre) is a Brazilian football player who is currently playing for his second period with the Indian football club Mohun Bagan Athletic Club.He actually plays as withdrawal forward or playmaker but also can play as striker and midfielder. In the current season 2007-08, his roll in his club is as striker.

Barreto (right) scoring a goal against East Bengal.

Barreto during a practice session at the Mohun Bagan club ground Photo owned and submitted by Soumyadeb Sinha.

He joined Mohun Bagan in 1999 and spent a successful period of five seasons with the club, before leaving in 2004, apparently unhappy with how the club being managed by "dishonest sports administrators". ^[1].

However, despite popular speculation that he was heading back to his native Brazil, Barreto signed with Penang FA and played in the Malaysian Super League. His first year in Penang was a tremendous success, although Penang failed to win any silverware, he was dubbed as "the best foreign player" by spectators and pundits alike. His ability to command the midfield coupled with good scoring records have somewhat elavated his status in Malaysian football scene.

He was honoured as the club captain during his second season - a rather rare honour for foreign players in Malaysian football. As a result, he was nicknamed "Kapitan" by the Penang fans, loosely meaning "The Chief". Although he continued to show superb performances throughout the campaign, the inability of Penang to win any silverware for the second successive year has made him frustrated. Rumours were rife before the Malaysia Cup quarter final match against Selangor that he would leave the club if Penang failed to win the tournament. Penang lost the quarter final with a 2-3 aggregate and just a week later the fear was realised - Barreto moved back to India with Mahindra United.

In June 2006, he switched from Mahindra United back to Mohun Bagan for an Indian football record transfer fee.

In 2007 also he signed for Mohun Bagan and started brilliantly. He is often regarded as the best foreign recruit into Indian football.^{[citation needed]}