Ânderson Miguel da Silva (born 28 July 1983), known as Nenê, is a Brazilian

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 Portuguese club

U.D. Vilafranquense União Desportiva Vilafranquense is a Portuguese football club from Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of the Portuguese football league system, following its promotion in 2019. The oth ...

as a striker. After being crowned the Portuguese Primeira Liga's top scorer in 2009, he went on to spend most of his professional career in Italy, representing several clubs.

Club career

Born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, Nenê began his career with modest Brazilian clubs, also having a spell at

Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (), known simply as Cruzeiro, is a Brazilian sports club based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Cruzeiro is mostly known for its association football team. It play ...

, then moved abroad to

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 ...

's C.D. Nacional in July 2008. In his first and only season in Primeira Liga he turned in stellar performances, leading the goalscoring charts with 20 goals (22 overall) by notably netting in home fixtures against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

(1–1) and

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

(3–1 win), while also helping the Madeira team reach the semi-finals of the

Portuguese Cup 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 ...

and qualify for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. In June 2009, Nenê joined

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2022-23 season, they compete in Serie B. As of 2021–22, the team is temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-sea ...

on a four-year contract for about

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

4.5 million, with the player reported to be earning approximately €450,000 per season. He spent his debut campaign in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

alternating between the starting XI and the substitutes bench, but still scored eight goals – second-best in the squad – as the

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

club narrowly avoided relegation. Nenê scored a

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 ...

in a 3–0 home win against

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

on 12 December 2010. In July 2013, aged 30, he renewed his contract for another year. On 25 July 2014, after five seasons and an average of less than five league goals,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Nenê signed for fellow league side

Hellas Verona FC Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in the 1984–85 se ...

. Late into the following January

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

he was loaned to Spezia Calcio of

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

, with the move being made permanent in the summer. He remained at the Stadio Alberto Picco until July 2017, when he joined

A.S. Bari Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, commonly referred to as Bari, is an Italian football club based in Bari, Apulia. Bari currently plays in the . The team finished the 2021–22 season in first place in Serie C and earned promotion to Serie B for ...

in the same division. Nenê returned to Portugal's top flight on 8 August 2018 after eight years away, agreeing to a one-year deal at Moreirense F.C. with the option of a further campaign. The following March, this clause was activated.

Honours

Individual

* Primeira Liga top scorer: 2008–09De Soeiro a Nenê: confira a lista dos reis do golo (From Soeiro to Nenê: check out list of goal kings)
Mais Futebol, 24 May 2009 (in Portuguese)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nene 1983 births Living people Brazilian footballers Footballers from São Paulo Association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Esporte Clube São Bento players Santa Cruz Futebol Clube players América Futebol Clube (SP) players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Ipatinga Futebol Clube players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Nacional players Moreirense F.C. players Leixões S.C. players U.D. Vilafranquense players Serie A players Serie B players Cagliari Calcio players Hellas Verona F.C. players Spezia Calcio players S.S.C. Bari players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy