Alexandre "Xande" Nascimento da Costa e Silva (born 16 March 1997) 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 le ...

who plays as a winger or

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for French club

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. In his career, he played for Vitória de Guimarães (first team and reserves), West Ham United,

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jamai ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Silva was a youth international for Portugal.

Club career

Vitória Guimarães

Born in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Silva joined Vitória de Guimarães' academy at the age of 17 after a five-year spell at Sporting CP. He started his senior career with the former's reserves, making his Segunda Liga debut on 17 August 2014 by coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away loss against

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 Est ...

. He scored his first goal in the competition the following 18 January, helping the hosts beat

Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B", commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play in ...

4–1. Silva's first appearance in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

took place in the penultimate match of the season, and he played 11 minutes in a 0–0 home draw with Benfica after replacing

Otávio Otávio is a Portuguese masculine given name, the equivalent of English Octavian, Octavius or Italian Ottavio. The Portuguese long form Octávio occurs more rarely. The Portuguese diminutive form is Otavinho. Given name *Otávio (footballer, born ...

. His maiden league goal occurred on 7 December 2015, in a 3–1 home defeat of

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

West Ham United

Silva joined West Ham United for an undisclosed fee on 2 August 2018, signing a three-year contract and being recruited initially for the under-23 team. He scored a four-minute

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on his

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

debut 11 days later, against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. Silva made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut on 30 December 2018 in a 2–0 away defeat to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Marko Arnautović Marko Arnautović (; born 19 April 1989) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Bologna and the Austria national team. Arnautović began his career in his native Austria playing in the youth teams for a ...

. He missed the start of the 2019–20 season due to illness; rushed into hospital in Portugal, he underwent emergency bowel surgery from which he was recuperating. On 5 October 2020, Silva was loaned to

for the season. He scored his first goal in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

on 2 December, his individual effort capping the 3–0 win at AEL.

Nottingham Forest

On 31 August 2021, Silva joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee. His maiden appearance took place on 15 September, when he replaced

Lyle Taylor Lyle James Alfred Taylor (born 29 March 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Nottingham Forest and for the Montserrat national team. Born in Greenwich, England, he internationally represents Montserrat. Prior to ...

midway through the second half of an eventual 0–2 home loss against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Dijon

On 2 August 2022, Silva signed a three-year contract with

for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Silva was capped by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at every youth level between under-15 and

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

. He was part of the under-17 squad that reached the semi-finals of the 2014 UEFA European Championship, and was named in the Team of the Tournament. Two years later, Silva helped the under-19 team to the semi-finals of the 2016 European Championship in Germany. He was then selected by under-20 manager

Emílio Peixe Emílio Manuel Delgado Peixe (born 16 January 1973) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a defensive midfielder, currently manager of the Kuwait under-23 team. A member of the dubbed Golden Generation who hailed from the Por ...

for the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as ...

, where he scored in the quarter-final against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, which they lost after a penalty shootout.

Personal life

Silva's father,

Joaquim Joaquim is the Portuguese and Catalan version of Joachim and may refer to: * Alberto Joaquim Chipande, politician * Eduardo Joaquim Mulémbwè, politician * Joaquim Agostinho (1943–1984), Portuguese professional bicycle racer * Joaquim Amat-Pi ...

, was also a footballer. Also a forward, he spent most of his career in China and Portugal and represented the Angola national team.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

*
Portuguese League profile

National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Xande 1997 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent Black Portuguese sportspeople Portuguese footballers Footballers from Porto Association football wingers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.F. Os Belenenses players Vitória S.C. B players Vitória S.C. players Premier League players English Football League players West Ham United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Super League Greece players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Ligue 2 players Dijon FCO players Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France