In the summer of 2012, Maicon joined Shakhtar Donetsk on a free transfer. He signed a three-year contract. On 4 September it was announced that Maicon would join Zorya on loan for six months before joining up with Shakhtar again during the winter break. Because _he_joined Shakhtar after the season had begun Mircea Lucescu, the Shakhtar manager, decided to loan him to Zorya for the first half of the season. <sep>, Pronoun: he