Miguel José Oliveira Silva Santos (born 21 October 1994) is a Portuguese 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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for club

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia ( el, Ολυμπιακός Λευκωσίας, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a football club based in Nicosia, Cyprus and competes in the Cypriot First Division. The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the C ...

. Santos spent his youth with Benfica, SC Lourel, Belenenses, and

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has h ...

, before spending the 2015–16 season as Benfica B's first choice goalkeeper. He signed with English club Port Vale for a five-month spell in August 2016, before moving on to

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

side Fortuna Sittard in January 2017. He helped Fortuna win promotion out of the

at the end of the 2017–18 season. He signed with Romanian side Astra Giurgiu in August 2018 and was loaned out to Academica Clinceni for the 2019–20 season. He joined Dutch club

Roda Roda may refer to: Places *Stadtroda (called Roda until 1925), a town in Thuringia, Germany *Roda, Greece, a village in Corfu, Greece * Roda, Punjab, a town and Union Council of Punjab, Pakistan *Roda, Portugal, a village in Viseu district, Portu ...

in October 2020, and then returned to Portugal to sign for

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Repu ...

in July 2021. He moved on to Trofense 12 months later. He joined Cypriot club Olympiakos Nicosia in July 2023.

Career

Benfica B

Sanots joined Benfica's junior team from

in 2013. He made his Segunda Liga debut for Benfica B in a 3–2 defeat to Atlético CP at the

Benfica Campus Benfica Campus (formerly Caixa Futebol Campus), also known as , is the training ground and youth academy of Portuguese football club Benfica. Having nine pitches (three of synthetic turf), including the main one with 2,721 seats – Benfica B' ...

on 17 August, when he came on as a substitute for Wei Huang following goalkeeper

Bruno Varela Bruno Miguel Semedo Varela (born 4 November 1994) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Vitória S.C. as a goalkeeper. He represented Benfica, Vitória de Setúbal and Vitória de Guimarães in the Primeira Liga. Abroad, he pl ...

's sending off. He made one further appearance in the 2013–14 campaign, before he established himself as Benfica B's first choice goalkeeper in February 2015 and played ten games at the end of the 2014–15 season. He played 37 of Benfica B's 46 league games in the 2015–16 season.

Port Vale

On 31 August 2016, Santos signed a two-year contract with English

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club Port Vale. He had already been training at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

for several weeks before signing, and said that his aim was to replace

Jak Alnwick Jak Alnwick (born 17 June 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Cardiff City. He turned professional at Newcastle United in 2008, and went on to represent England at under-17 and under-18 levels. He s ...

as the club's first choice goalkeeper. He made his debut for the "Valiants" in a 1–0 defeat to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

in an EFL Trophy Northern Group E match at

on 4 October. He made a second appearance in the same competition, keeping a clean sheet and saving two penalties in the resulting shoot-out with

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

; first-team coach Andy Smith praised Santos after the game, saying "It was an outstanding performance... he is a top quality goalkeeper". After Michael Brown succeeded Bruno Ribeiro as manager, Santos left the club by mutual consent in January 2017.

Fortuna Sittard

Santos joined Dutch

club

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

in January 2017. He played 19 league games for Fortuna in the second half of the 2016–17 season. He played 25 matches for "Fortunezen" during the 2017–18 season as the club won promotion to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

as runners-up of the Eerste Divisie.

Astra Giurgiu

On 15 August 2018, Santos signed a four-year contract with Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

club

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

. Manager

Marius Măldărășanu Constantin Marius Măldărășanu (born 19 April 1975) is a Romanian Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club FC Hermannstadt. Club career Măldărășanu ...

expected him to compete with Bulgarian goalkeeper Plamen Iliev for a first-team place. However he remained only a back-up to David Lazar and was restricted to four appearances at the Stadionul Marin Anastasovici in the 2018–19 season, and was an unused substitute in the Cupa României final defeat to Viitorul Constanța at the

Ilie Oană Stadium Ilie Oană Stadium ( Romanian: ''Stadionul Ilie Oană'') is a football stadium in Ploiești, Romania. It has been the home ground of Petrolul Ploiești since its inauguration in September 2011, and has a capacity of 15,073 spectators. The stadi ...

. On 19 August 2019, he joined Liga I rivals Academica Clinceni on loan for the rest of the 2019–20 season.

Roda JC Kerkrade

On 5 October 2020, he returned to the Netherlands and signed with Eerste Divisie club

Roda JC Kerkrade Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

. He featured nine times in the 2020–21 campaign as Groningen loanee Jan Hoekstra was preferred in goal.

Return to Portugal

On 30 July 2021, he returned to Portugal and signed with

. Manager Ricardo Sousa selected him for 23 of Mafra's 34 league games, with Brazilian Renan playing the other 11. On 21 July 2022, he signed with league rivals Trofense, where manager

Jorge Casquilha Jorge António Rosa Casquilha (born 13 January 1969) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently a manager. After playing in the Primeira Liga for Gil Vicente for six years, he embarked on a managerial care ...

was looking for him to provide competition for Tiago Silva. On 7 November, he scored a bizarre own goal after Benfica B goalkeeper Samuel Soares hit the crossbar with a kick from his own half and the ball rebounded into Santos and over the goalline. He played seventeen games in the 2022–23 campaign as Trofense were relegated into Liga 3.

Olympiakos Nicosia

In July 2023, he joined newly-relegated

Cypriot Second Division The Cypriot Second Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Β΄ Κατηγορίας) is the second highest football division of the Cypriot football league system. Administrated by the Cyprus Football Association, it is contested by 16 teams, with th ...

club

on a one-year contract, with the option of a further year.

Career statistics

Honours

Fortuna Sittard *

second-place promotion: 2017–18 Astra Giurgiu * Cupa României runner-up:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Miguel 1994 births Living people People from Oeiras, Portugal Footballers from Lisbon District Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers C.F. Os Belenenses players G.D. Estoril Praia players S.L. Benfica B players Port Vale F.C. players Fortuna Sittard players FC Astra Giurgiu players LPS HD Clinceni players Roda JC Kerkrade players C.D. Mafra players C.D. Trofense players Olympiakos Nicosia players Liga Portugal 2 players Eerste Divisie players Liga I players Cypriot Second Division players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus