Ramires will forever be held in high regard by Chelsea supporters.

The all-action Brazilian midfielder joined the west London club from Benfica in 2010 and was a solid performer for many years.

Ramires also scored one of the most famous goals in Chelsea's recent history. In the second leg of the team's 2011/12 Champions League semi-final tie versus Barcelona, he produced an outrageous chip at Camp Nou that completely changed the game and helped send the Blues to the final - which they won.

The former Brazil international left Chelsea in January of 2016, just a few months after signing a new four-year contract under Jose Mourinho's leadership.

Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning paid £25 million for his services and Ramires' career since his switch to the Far East up until now has been a rather strange story.

Ramires' time in China with Jiangsu Suning

SUITA, JAPAN - MARCH 15: Ramires Santos of Jiangsu FC in action during the AFC Champions League Group H match between Gamba Osaka and Jiangsu FC at Suita City Football Stadium on March 15, 2017 in Suita, Japan. (Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images)

The man who turned 35 on Thursday performed well at times while wearing Jiangsu's jersey. He even scored three minutes into his Chinese Super League debut.

But there were some serious negatives to go with the positives.

Ramires once received a four-game ban from the Chinese Football Association for completely losing his head with a referee during a 2-1 defeat to Shandong Luneng.

Take a look at footage of that bizarre, chaotic incident here...

He was absolutely fuming and it's no wonder the ban handed to him was longer than the regulation three matches for a red card.

Ramires was released by Jiangsu in May of 2019 and that came well over a year after he made the last of his 73 appearances for the club in a Chinese FA Cup match against Tianjin Quanjian.

Ramires' return to Brazil with Palmeiras

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - OCTOBER 14: (L-R) Gabriel Veron of Palmeiras celebrates with teammate Ramires after scoring the first goal of their team during the match against Coritiba as part of Brasileirao Series A 2020 at Allianz Parque on October 14, 2020 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)

Following his departure from China, Ramires returned to Brazil with Palmeiras and signed another four-year contract.

The former Cruzeiro man certainly enjoyed success with one of South America's most prestigious clubs. Ramires won the Campeonato Paulista, Copa Libertadores and Copa do Brasil with Palmeiras in 2020.

But he then decided to leave in November of that year, stating on his official Instagram account that the decision was made for "personal reasons".

And in the lengthy period of time since he left Palmeiras at the age of just 33, Ramires has remained a free agent.

As we previously mentioned, he's now 35 and you can't help but think that his career will eventually fall into the 'what if?' category when people analyse it in the years to come.

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