#947
XANDE SILVA

Born: 16 March 1997, Coimbra, Portugal

Signed: Vitoria de Guimaraes (Portugal)

Date: 2 August 2018

Fee: Undisclosed (£1.5m)

Debut: 30 December 2018, Burnley (A)

Last game: 5 January 2019, Birmingham City (H)

Appearances: 1/1

Goals: 0

Transferred: Nottingham Forest

Date: 31 August 2021

Fee: Undisclosed

Xande Silva was born in Coimbra, Portugal; at school level he played for local side Futebol Clube de Alverca before spending time in the Academy of his hometown side Sporting Clube de Portugal. At the age of 17, he joined Vitoria de Guimaraes where he enjoyed a productive five year spell, made the breakthrough in the second tier with Vitoria’s B side, playing 21 times in 2014/15 before he became more involved with the senior team from the next campaign onwards. He debuted in the top division aged 18, featuring all the way across the forward line over the following three seasons.

At international level, Silva helped Portugal reach the semi-finals of the UEFA U17 Euro in 2014, before reaching the same stage of the UEFA U19 Euro two years later, and scored twice in five games as Portugal progressed to the quarter-finals of the FIFA U20 World Cup, only being knocked out on penalties by Uruguay. In total, he has played 65 times for his country from U15 to U20 levels, scoring 19 goals.

On 2 August 2018, the 21-year-old arrived at London Stadium on a three-year contract from Primeira Liga side Vitoria de Guimaraes for an undisclosed fee. Silva made a sensational start to his West Ham career, linking up with manager Liam Manning’s PL2 reserve side and scored a hat-trick on his debut in the 3-1 away victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Lamex Stadium on 13 August 2018 and was on the scoresheet in the following two fixtures.

The Portuguese forward was named on Manuel Pellegrini’s subs bench for three fixtures before finally getting his chance on 30 December 2018 against Burnley at Turf Moor, when he replaced Marko Arnautovic after 73 minutes for his senior debut in English football and showed glimpses of why the Hammers brought him to this country. He featured once more for the Irons’ first team, last appearing in an FA Cup tie against Birmingham City in January 2019.

However, that was as good as it got the the young man, he missed the start of the 2019/20 season due to illness; rushed into hospital in Portugal, he underwent emergency bowel surgery before starting the long road to recovery, having suffered significant weight loss following his operation.

In February 2020 the striker made an instant impact with Dmitri Halajko’s young Hammers after returning from his long-term lay-off, scoring three goals and recording an assist in four competitive appearances in Claret and Blue. Such form earned Silva a nomination for the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award for February, and helped the U23s maintain their unbeaten season at the top of Premier League 2 Division 2 and reach a first-ever Premier League International Cup semi-final before the season was curtailed and fell silent because of the Covid pandemic.

After recording ten goals over two seasons at development squad level, on 5 October 2020 is was loaned to Greece side Aris Thessaloniki FC, where he scored four times in 33 appearances.

On 31 August 2021, West Ham confirmed that Xande Silva has completed a permanent transfer to EFL Championship club Nottingham Forest. Xande would later join French side Dijon, and currently plays for Atlanta United of Major League Soccer in the USA.