He was spotted by a scout that took him to Paraná, where he first played professional football for Nacional-PR, a local club from the city of Rolândia. After some good appearances, Londrina, a bigger club from Paraná, bought him in 2008. He played few games for Londrina because of a right thigh injury, which sidelined him for ten months. Still, in seven games in the 2009 Campeonato Paranaense, he scored five goals.
On 22 April 2009, Ricardo was transferred to Grêmio, a big Brazilian club from Rio Grande do Sul. He failed to make his debut for the club and was mostly on the bench.
After the successful campaign in the Paulistão 2010, Ricardo was transferred to Atlético Mineiro, who bought 45% of their economic rights, with the other 55% still being of Grêmio.[1] He played many games for Atlético Mineiro in 2010, scoring a few goals, but in 2011 he failed to claim his place in the starting 11 due to injury and due to the arrival of many strikers for the season.
Palmeiras stated interest in Ricardo in August 2011, and brought him in the end of the month along with Fernandão, another striker. Ricardo was later released from Palmeiras not even a year later.
On 25 January 2013, Bueno joined the defending Danish league champions FC Nordsjælland on loan, on a contract running until the summer of 2013, after which the club can make it a permanent move. On 20 January 2014, Bueno joined Seongnam FC of K League Classic in South Korea
On 19 December 2019, it was confirmed that Bueno would join the Thai league club Buriram United for the 2020 season.