Jonas started his senior career atGuarani in 2005.[1] He made his debut againstSanto André. While playing for Guarani, Jonas scored 13 goals, 12 of them[1] in 25 league matches.
In 2006, Jonas transferred toSantos,[2] where he won the2006 Campeonato Paulista scoring five goals in six matches. However, he had a serious knee injury that kept him out of action for six months.[3] In 2007, he returned to the pitch and scored four goals in the Paulista, helping Santos win the tournament for the second time in a row.[4] After spending only one year at Santos, Jonas transferred to Grêmio in 2007.
On 12 September 2007,Grêmio signed a four-year deal which transferred 50% of Jonas' rights.[5] He made his debut in theGre–Nal derby, leaving injured early in the second half.[6]
After the arrival of more forwards in 2008, Jonas lost his place, sometimes even failing to make the reserves list. The most consistent criticism from the press was his lack of physical strength when playing up front against powerful defenders. By July, he decided to leave the club.[7]
Despite not being able to avoid relegation to theSérie B in 2008, Jonas was one of the best players in the team, scoring 18 goals during his stay, nine in the Campeonato Brasileiro, ahead of teammateEdno's eight.[8]
After the end of the loan, Jonas returned to Grêmio for the 2009 season. He played in the2009 Copa Libertadores, and after playing his worst game in the tournament (incredibly missing three chances to score in the same attack) againstBoyacá Chicó he was dubbed "the worst forward of the world" ("el peor delantero del mundo") by Spanish newspaperMundo Deportivo.[9][10][11]
Jonas, however, scored 14 goals in the2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and was amongst the top goal scorers. He enjoyed further success throughout the 2010 season: he was top-scorer for Grêmio in the2010 Campeonato Gaúcho and finished the top goal scorer in theSérie A with 23 goals.[8][12]
Due to a low release fee (€1.25 million), Jonas rescinded his contract with Grêmio,[13] where he was finally transferred to Spanish clubValencia on 24 January 2011.[14] His first goal forLos Che came on 27 February, scoring a late winner in a 2–1 away victory for Valencia againstAthletic Bilbao.[15] He scored his second goal in a match againstReal Madrid on 24 April, which ended 3–6.[16]
Jonas scored both goals for Valencia in a 2–0 Champions League win againstLille on 2 October 2012.[19][20] In the2012–13 La Liga, he scored a personal-season high of 13 goals for Valencia.[21]On 1 December 2013, Jonas hit an eight-minute hat-trick as Valencia defeated ten-manOsasuna in a home league match.[22] On 1 September 2014, he rescinded his link with the club.[23]
On 21 January 2015, Jonas scored at Moreirense in the league cup and became the Brazilian with the best average number of goals in Europe (0.81), surpassingNeymar (0.74) andLuiz Adriano (0.70), with 13 goals in 16 matches.[30] On 28 February, Jonas scored twice in the thrashing ofEstoril (6–0) in the league.[31] On 14 March, Jonas scored his 20th goal for Benfica (in 25 matches) and set his season goal record in Europe, as Benfica beatBraga (2–0) in the Primeira Liga.[32] On 4 April, he scored two goals against Nacional in the league.[33] On 11 April, he scored twice againstAcadémica de Coimbra (5–1) in the league.[34] On 18 April, he scored twice in a third consecutive league match, in a win atBelenenses (0–2), and became the second best top scorer in Primeira Liga with 16 goals in 22 matches.[35]
On 23 May 2015, after winning theleague title, Jonas netted two goals in a home win againstMarítimo (4–1) in his last league match ofthe season in which he could have become theleague's top scorer with 21 goals, but one of his three goals was wrongly invalidated for offside.[36][37][38] On 29 May, he scored the first goal in a 2–1 win against Marítimo in theTaça da Liga final, being elected as man of the match.[39] In this season, he was the top scorer in the league cup with five goals,[citation needed] and in the Taça de Portugal with six goals.[citation needed] On 4 July, he won theleague's Player of the Year award.[40]
On 14 March 2016, Jonas scored twice againstTondela in a 4–1 home league win and became Benfica's top scorer in the 21st century, with 30 goals.[47] Six days later, he scored the winning goal atBoavista (0–1) in the 93rd minute.[48] On 15 May, he scored his 32nd league goal, in a home win against Nacional (4–1) on the final day, and received the Bola de Prata award during the league title celebration.[49][50] Throughout the season, he was a candidate to win theEuropean Golden Shoe, and even lead the race,[51][52] but ultimately he finished fourth.[53] On 15 July, Jonas was awarded the Top Goalscorer and the Best Player awards in Primeira Liga for the 2015–16 season.[54]
Despite not opening his account for the league season until the 16th matchday in a 2–0 win atVitória de Guimarães, Jonas finished the campaign with 13 goals from 19 games, making him the league's fifth-highest scorer of the season and Benfica's second. On 1 April 2017 he scored his first goal against another member of theBig Three in a 1–1 home draw withPorto, and in doing so reached 65 league goals for Benfica – leapfrogging the SwedeMats Magnusson as the club's highest foreign goalscorer in the competition, behind Paraguay'sÓscar Cardozo (112).[58]
In the2017 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira against Vitória de Guimarães at theEstádio Municipal de Aveiro, Jonas opened the scoring after six minutes of a 3–1 win for Benfica.[59] He scored five times in the four league matches of August 2017, including a hat-trick in a 5–0 win over neighboursBelenenses on 19 August.[60] On 26 November, he scored twice in a 6–0 home win overVitória de Setúbal to pass 100 goals for Benfica, and also became only their second player afterJulinho (1949–50) to net in ten consecutive league fixtures.[61] He picked up the league's Player of the Month award five months running from October/November 2017 to March 2018.[62]
On 3 March 2018, Jonas scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 home win over Marítimo.[63] He ended the season with 34 goals from 30 games in the league, finishing as top scorer for the second time, seven goals ahead of Sporting'sBas Dost; Benfica missed out on the league title to Porto, and Jonas missed several games towards the end of the season.[64]
On 3 November 2018 Jonas reached 100 Primeira Liga goals for Benfica, in the second minute of a home game againstMoreirense that ended in a shock 3–1 loss.[65] Following his return from injury in the2018–19 season, Jonas scored twice to seal a 10–0 home thrashing of Nacional in the league on 11 February 2019.[66] On 9 July 2019, he announced his retirement.[67]
Jonas was born in the city ofBebedouro and was raised inTaiúva, a neighbour municipality in the state ofSão Paulo. He was born to teachers Ismael (father) and Maria Luiza (mother). He has two older brothers, Tiago and Diego.[73]
In August 2015, Jonas gained Italian citizenship.[74]
^"Comunicado Oficial - Jonas Gonçalves" [Official announcement - Jonas Gonçalves] (in Spanish). Valencia's official website. 1 September 2014.Archived from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved2 September 2014.
^"Jonas assina por duas épocas" [Jonas signs for two seasons] (in Portuguese). Record. 12 September 2012. Retrieved12 September 2012.
^"A festa do campeão, goleador Ronaldo e Europeu Belenenses" [The champions' party, Ronaldo scorer and European Belenenses] (in Portuguese). SAPO Desporto. 24 May 2015. Retrieved25 May 2015.Erro do auxiliar tira Bola de Prata a Jonas. Jonas marcou 3 mas o árbitro assistente anulou-lhe um limpinho.
^Soares, Ricardo (2015). "Era uma vez... 11 histórias de Jonas" [Once upon a time... 11 stories of Jonas].Mística (in Portuguese). No. 28 (July–September 2015). Portugal:Impresa Publishing. p. 35.ISSN3846-0823.
^Pimentel, José Nuno (3 June 2015)."Época em revista: Portugal - UEFA" [Season in review: Portugal] (in Portuguese).UEFA. Retrieved3 June 2015.Jogador do ano: Jonas (SL Benfica)
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