Maycon Vinicius Ferreira da Cruz (born 29 July 1992), commonly known as Nikão, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Guangdong GZ-Power.
Personal life Born in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Nikão did not know his father and lost his mother due to a cancer at the age of nine. He was raised by his grandmother, and after impressing in a local amateur team at the age of 12, he was brought up to Mirassol, São Paulo for a trial period. At the age of 16, he also lost his grandmother, and two years later, his brother Thiago also died.
Club career Early career Nikão began his career with Mirassol's youth setup, and subsequently had trials at CSKA Moscow and PSV Eindhoven; despite impressing, he was unable to stay at those clubs after not having a legal representative in those countries. In 2009, after a brief period at Palmeiras, he moved to Santos.
Atlético Mineiro On 16 April 2010, as Santos did not exercise the buyout clause on his loan contract, Nikão signed for Atlético Mineiro. He made his Série A debut on 10 October, coming on as a second-half substitute for Renan Oliveira in a 0–1 away loss against Internacional.
After appearing rarely, Nikão was loaned to Série B side Vitória on 9 February 2011. He scored nine goals in only 12 appearances in the 2011 Campeonato Baiano, as his side lost the title to Bahia de Feira.
On 25 May 2011, Nikão moved to Bahia in the top tier, on loan until December. He subsequently served another loan deals at Ponte Preta, América Mineiro, Linense and Ceará.
Athletico Paranaense On 14 January 2015 Nikão signed a three-year deal with Atlético Paranaense. He made his club debut on 26 February by playing the last 20 minutes of a 0–1 Campeonato Paranaense home loss against Foz do Iguaçu, and scored his first goal on 2 May by netting the third of 5–0 home routing of Nacional-PR.
On 6 June 2017, Nikão played his 100th match for Furacão. On 14 July 2019, he reached his 200th match.
On 10 October 2021, Nikão completed 300 matches for Athletico.
Career statistics
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueState LeagueCupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAtlético Mineiro2010Série A3000—2Appearance(s) in Copa Sudamericana0—502011000000——002012001000——002013000000——00Total30100020—60Vitória (loan)2011Série B1012900——139Bahia (loan)2011Série A70————70Ponte Preta (loan)2012Série A291————291América Mineiro (loan)2013Série B2935241——386Linense (loan)2014Paulista—70———70Ceará (loan)2013Série B284—83——367Athletico Paranaense2015Série A314611041—426201619110130—4Appearance(s) in Primeira Liga03622017292612111Appearance(s) in Copa Libertadores3—48720183220070114—50620192350081803Two appearances in Recopa Sudamericana, one appearance in J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship042620202637610301Appearance(s) in Supercopa do Brasil038920211733260113—378Total17720321128248118029344São Paulo2022Série A1131205031—3142024—50——1060Total1131201003110374Cruzeiro (loan)2023Série A2227220——314Athletico Paranaense (loan)2024Série A266—3011—307Guangdong GZ-Power2025China League One2910—20——3110Career total36249762457654139055892
Honours Atlético Mineiro Campeonato Mineiro: 2010
Ceará Copa do Nordeste: 2015
Athletico Paranaense Campeonato Paranaense: 2016, 2020 Copa Sudamericana: 2018, 2021 J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship: 2019 Copa do Brasil: 2019
São Paulo Supercopa do Brasil: 2024
References
External links