Claiton (footballer, born 1984)

Claiton Machado dos Santos (born 7 September 1984) is a Brazilian-Italian former footballer who played as a defender.

Bologna, Milan and loans
Claiton started his professional football career at Bologna and played once in Serie A, on 17 June 2001. Bologna lost to Internazionale 1−2. In January 2002, he was signed by A.C. Milan and played for their Primavera team. On 18 December 2002, he made his debut for the club, coming in as a substitute for Alessandro Costacurta in the Coppa Italia 1/8 finals against Ancona. He was also featured as an unused bench for Milan in Serie A on 24 May 2003, the game right before the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final and 2003 Coppa Italia Final, in which Carlo Ancelotti used 4 youth team players in the starting lineup and another 7 players on the bench. In 2003-04 season, he remain the member of U20 youth team.

In the summer of 2004, he left for Prato on loan, but in January 2005 returned to Milan. In the 2005-06 season, he was loaned out again, this time to Lecco.

Varese
In the summer of 2006, he joined Serie C2 side Varese in a co-ownership deal for €500. He was not the absolute starter of the team, but also played 28 league matches at the champions winning 2008-09 season. In 2009–10 season, he played 20 league matches as starter in 25 league appearances. Varese promotion to Serie B in 2010.

Bari
On 8 July 2011, Claiton was signed by Serie B club Bari on a free transfer and put pen to paper on a three-year deal. However, due to the financial crisis of Bari, he left the club in summer 2013.

Chievo
On 14 August 2013, Claiton was signed by Serie A club Chievo. Bari also signed half of the registration rights of Marco Calderoni for €90,000 on the same day.

Crotone
On 29 July 2014, Claiton was signed by Serie B club Crotone on a free transfer. At the end of the 2015–16 season he was initially released by Crotone, but on 14 July 2016 he signed a new two-year contract with the club.

Cremonese
On 21 July 2017 he was signed by Cremonese.

Catania
On 16 September 2020 Claiton signed a 2-year contract with Catania. On 9 April 2022, he was released together with all of his Catania teammates following the club's exclusion from Italian football due to its inability to overcome a number of financial issues.

Honours

 * Lega Pro Seconda Divisione: 2009