Juventude

Zezinho began his football career at Juventude and was promoted to the A team in 2008.^{[citation needed]} On 3 June 2009, he made his first team debut in a 1–0 home loss against Paraná, coming on as a second-half substitute, replacing Edimar.^[1] Two weeks later, Zezinho was sent off for first time in his senior career, during a game against Bragantino. On 5 August, he scored his first goal for Juventude against Portuguesa.^[2] Zezinho then scored in Juventude's 2–0 win over Fortaleza on 19 September 2009, taking his tally for the season to 2 goals. He earned 21 Série B appearances.

Santos (loan)

On 10 February 2010, Zezinho was loaned out to Série A club Santos.^[3] He was assigned the number 8 shirt. Zezinho made his competitive début for Santos in the Campeonato Paulista on 8 April 2010, starting alongside Zé Eduardo in attack^{[citation needed]} in Santos's 4–2 victory over Sertãozinho. On 6 June, in a Série A match against Vasco da Gama, he assisted Madson for the fourth goal as Santos cruised to a 4–0 win.^{[citation needed]}

Then Zezinho transferred to Deportivo Maldonado on 18 August 2010, and immediately rejoined Santos on a loan deal until December 2011.^[4][5][6]

Bahia (loan)

On 30 December 2010, Bahia announced they had reached agreement for the loan of Zezinho to the club for the 2011 season.^[7] Few days later his loan contract with Santos was terminated by mutual consent.^[6] He made only one appearance for the club in Série A until he requested the termination of his contract with Bahia in November 2011.^[8]