João Sabino Mendes Neto Saraiva (born 21 October 1994), known as Mendes, is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese association football, football football team, club from Chaves, Portugal, Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Está ...

as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Born in Matosinhos,

Porto District The District of Porto ( pt, Distrito do Porto ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro and Viseu districts to the south, Br ...

, Mendes played youth football for four clubs, notably having two spells at local Leixões SC. He spent his first four seasons as a senior in the third division, representing in quick succession

Gondomar SC Gondomar Sport Club is a Portuguese football club based in Gondomar, Porto District. Founded on 1 May 1921, it currently plays in the fourth-tier Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio de São Miguel'', with a capacity of 2.4 ...

, CD Gouveia, A.D. Nogueirense,

CD Operário Clube Operário Desportivo ''(known as CD Operário, Operário dos Açores or just Operário),'' is a Portuguese football club based in Lagoa in the island of São Miguel in the Azores. Background CD Operário currently plays in the Segunda ...

and

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Es ...

. In 2016–17, he scored three goals in 27 matches to help the latter team to promotion to the LigaPro. Mendes made his professional debut with Oliveirense on 27 August 2017, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 away loss against

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

. He scored his first goal in division two the following 11 April, but in a 3–2 away defeat to

C.D. Cova da Piedade Clube Desportivo Cova da Piedade is a football club established in the parish of Cova da Piedade, municipality of Almada, Portugal. History Clube Desportivo Cova da Piedade was founded on 28 January 1947, resulting from the merge between União ...

. In the summer of 2018, Mendes signed with Primeira Liga side C.D. Tondela on a one-year loan deal. He appeared in his first game in the competition on 2 December, replacing Bruno Monteiro in the first half of the 3–2 loss at Portimonense SC; the move was made permanent at the end of that spell. Mendes was loaned to Académica de Coimbra of the second tier on 30 August 2019.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Joao 1994 births Living people Portuguese footballers Footballers from Matosinhos Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Leixões S.C. players Gondomar S.C. players CD Operário players U.D. Oliveirense players C.D. Tondela players Académica de Coimbra (football) players G.D. Estoril Praia players G.D. Chaves players