The next destination of our alphabetical world tour is Portugal. Overachievers on the international stage in respect of their small population, Portugal are reigning European Champions and have qualified for every World Cup since the turn of the century.
According to the Premier League website, 72 players have represented Portugal in the Premier League, the first of whom was a 1990s bad boy who had a run-in with Harry Redknapp.
First Player – Dani (West Ham; 1996)
Though his Premier League career was only nine-games long, striker Daniel da Cruz Carvalho was no stranger to headlines during his time in England.
Signed on loan from Sporting in his native Portugal, 19-year-old Dani scored on his debut against Spurs. It was to be one of few highlights from his time with the Hammers however, as he was later banished to the reserves before having his contract canceled after several reported misdemeanors.
Dani refuted many of these claims and lambasted Redknapp in a recent interview, but hindsight favours the Englishman. Despite displaying bags of potential, Dani won only nine caps for Portugal and retired at just 27. Nonetheless, he will forever hold the record of being the first Portuguese to play in the Premier League.
Most Appearances: Luís Boa Morte – 296 (Arsenal, Southampton, Fulham, West Ham; 1997-2011)
One of Arsenal’s first signings of the Arsene Wenger era, Luis Boa Morte joined the Gunners as a highly-rated 19-year-old.
He struggled to establish himself in Arsenal’s impressive sides of the late 1990s and left for Southampton in 1999. His time at Southampton was equally disappointing however, and it was not until a loan spell at Fulham in their promotion campaign of 2000/01 that Boa Morte fully burst onto the scene.
He joined Fulham permanently following their promotion and remained with the club until 2007 when he joined West Ham. He left the Hammers in 2011 following their relegation to the Championship, ending a 14-year spell in English football.
Top Scorer: Cristiano Ronaldo – 84 (Manchester United; 2003-09)
Could it be anyone else? Though his haul of 84 Premier League goals seems paltry compared to the mammoth totals he has since achieved at Real Madrid, Juventus and with the Portugal national team, they were enough to make Cristiano Ronaldo the highest-scoring Portuguese in the history of the Premier League.
Aged just 18 when he moved to England, Ronaldo was mostly deployed on the right side of a midfield four, though he later featured in more advanced roles.
He won everything in the game with Manchester United and then won it all again with Madrid, before ensuring his immortality by captaining Portugal to the Euro 2016 title.
He and Lionel Messi have rewritten the record books between them. Ronaldo’s record of 84 Premier League goals, however, is definitely one that is there to be broken.
Current Players
16 Portuguese players appeared in the Premier League before the lockdown last season. The likes of Rúben Neves, Rui Patrício, João Moutinho and Diogo Jota are just four of a seven-strong Portuguese contingent at Wolves, while Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Ricardo Pereira (Leicester) and Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) are among the season’s best performers.
Trivia
- Eight Portuguese player have won the Premier League – Luís Boa Morte, Tiago, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Deco and Bernardo Silva.
- Only 11 players have won more international caps than Cristiano Ronaldo’s 164, while only Iranian Ali Daei (109) has scored more than Ronaldo’s current haul of 99 international goals.
- Three Portuguese players have scored a Premier League hat-trick – Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota and Bernardo Silva.
- Eder, the scorer of the extra-time winner in the Euro 2016 final, played 13 Premier League games for Swansea in the 2015/16 season, scoring no goals.
