Tomás do Lago Pontes Esteves (born 3 April 2002) 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender for club

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

Club career

Esteves was born in

Arcos de Valdevez Arcos de Valdevez () is a concelho, municipality along the northern frontier of Portugal and Galicia (Spain), Galicia (Spain). The population in 2011 was 22,847,Viana do Castelo District The Viana do Castelo District ( ) is a district located in the northwest of Portugal, bordered on the north by Spain ( Galicia) and on the south by Braga District. It has an area of and a population of 252,011 (2006), for a density of 111.8 inha ...

. He was part of the

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

squad that won the

2018–19 UEFA Youth League The 2018–19 UEFA Youth League was the sixth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played on 29 April 2019 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, between English sid ...

, defeating Chelsea 3–1 in the final in

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

, Switzerland. With a contract lasting until 2021, he attracted interest from

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

who offered €10 million for his signature, and rejected a transfer to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

in August 2019. Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Esteves was given the number 2 shirt for the first team, inherited from the released

Maxi Pereira Victorio Maximiliano "Maxi" Pereira Páez (; born 8 June 1984) is a Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He played with Defensor in Uruguay, joining Benfica in 2007 and going on to remain with the club for eight ...

. He made his senior debut on 18 August 2019 for

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

, starting and playing 80 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

on the second week of the season. Esteves had his initial call-up to a first-team matchday squad for the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

opening group match against C.D. Santa Clara on 25 September 2019, remaining unused in the 1–0 home win. On 5 December he made his debut in the same competition, playing the last 15 minutes of a 3–0 win at Casa Pia A.C. in place of Wilson Manafá. He made his

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

bow on 16 June 2020, playing the first hour of a goalless draw at bottom club C.D. Aves before being substituted for Moussa Marega. On 5 October 2020, Esteves was loaned to

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

for the season. He made his debut fifteen days later in a 1–0 home win over

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

, as a 57th-minute substitute for Tom Holmes. He scored his only goal for the Royals in a 2–2 draw with

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

on 25 April 2021. On 2 August 2022, Esteves joined

Pisa S.C. Pisa Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Pisa, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Pisa, Tuscany. The club will compete in Serie A in the 2025–26 season. The club was fou ...

in the Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as 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 b ...

on loan with an option to buy and a conditional obligation to buy. He made his debut 11 days later, starting as the season began with a 4–3 loss at A.S. Cittadella. On 3 August 2023, Pisa announced the permanent signing of Esteves on a three-year contract, acquiring 70% of the player's economic rights for a reported €1 million fee.

International career

Esteves first represented Portugal at under-15 level in April 2017. On 5 September 2019, he made his debut for the under-21 team, replacing Thierry Correia at half time in a 5–0 home win over

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in Alverca in a Euro 2021 qualifier. At 17 years, 5 months and 3 days he became the youngest player for the team in the 21st century, beating fellow Porto graduate Rúben Neves by 25 days.

Personal life

Esteves' younger brother

Gonçalo Gonçalo is a Portuguese masculine given name and family name, equivalent to the Spanish name Gonzalo. People with the name include: * Gonçalo Brandão, a Portuguese footballer *Gonçalo Coelho, a Portuguese explorer of the South Atlantic and o ...

, also a defender, spent a decade at Porto before joining

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

in 2021.

Career statistics

Honours

Porto Youth *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

: 2018–19 Porto *

: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteves, Tomas 2002 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers People from Arcos de Valdevez Footballers from Viana do Castelo District Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football fullbacks FC Porto players FC Porto B players Reading F.C. players Pisa SC players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players English Football League players Serie B players Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen