William Carvalho

William Silva de Carvalho is a Portuguese professional footballer who currently plays for the Spanish club Real Betis and Portugal National Football Team as a defensive midfielder.

Born on 7th April 1992, turned down the opportunity to play for Angola National team. Carvalho is a right-footed player, also a part of the famous Portuguese squad that won European Cup in 2016.

He won the SJPF Player of the Month award for 3 consecutive months from October 2013 and the SJPF Young Player of the Month award for 4 consecutive months since August 2013.

He was also awarded the Commander of the Order of Merit by the Portuguese Republic.

Background

Born in Luanda, Angola, he moved to Portugal at a very young age. Hailing from a family of football players with his Uncle and Grandfather playing for an Angolan club, he started playing in the streets.

He was picked up by the Recreios Desportivos de Algueirão in 2003 and represented their youth system.

He was on the move to Mira Sintra in 2004. He was the youngest player in the squad and also became the Captain of the club. He then moved to one of the most renown clubs of Portugal, Sporting CP in 2005.

Debut

He made his move to Sporting FC in 2005, but it was not until 2011 that he made his first-team debut for the club.

He was eligible to play for both Portugal and Angola, where he chose to play for Portugal.

While playing in the U-20’s he turned down the offer to play for Angolan International team.

On 3rd April 2011, He made his official debut with the first team against Vitória S.C in a 1–1 away draw for the Primeira Liga championship.

On August 2011, he was then sent out on loan to C.D. Fátima in the third division where he spent 6 months featuring in 13 matches and finding the back of the net on three occasions.

On 15th October 2012, he made his Portuguese under-21 team in a 0–1 friendly loss with Ukraine.

Rise to glory

On the winter transfer of 2012, he was again loaned out by Sporting but this time to the Belgian Pro League side Cercle Brugge K.S.V. He spent a season-and-a-half featuring alongside several Sporting teammates who were there on the same basis.

On 7th April, his first professional goal came in the 6–4 victory over OH Leuven, and the next season he was amongst the squad which finished as runner-up in the Belgian Cup losing 0–2 to K.R.C Genk in the final.

He returned to Sporting in the 2013-14 season and scored his first goal for the club on 27th October in an away loss to FC Porto.

Sporting didn’t want to cash in on the player when Arsenal making a £13 million plus Joel Campbell offer in the 2014 Transfer window.

He made 42 appearances in the 2014-15 season and scored a goal as they won the Taça de Portugal and finished the Primeira Liga in 3rd place. He played the whole 120 minutes in the Taça de Portugal final win over S.C. Braga.

In the UEFA Euro, 2016 in France was suspended in the semi-final victory over Wales and replaced Danilo in the final where they defeated France in 0-1 win at Stade de France during the extra time.

Club career

He played for Sporting CP since 2001 and was loaned out to third tier club Fátima in the 2011 season and to Cercle Brugge of Belgian Pro League since January 2012.

He was approached by the English Club West Ham and the negotiation broke down which left a huge dispute between the clubs.