Diego Moreira
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File:Diego Moreira.jpg | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Diego Manuel Jadon da Silva Moreira | ||
Date of birth | 6 August 2004 Expression error: Unrecognized word "august". | ||
Place of birth | Liège, Belgium | ||
Height | Script error: No such module "person height". | ||
Position(s) | Winger | ||
Team information | |||
Current team
|
Chelsea | ||
Number | 43 | ||
Youth career | |||
–2020 | Standard Liège | ||
2020–2021 | Benfica | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2021–2023 | Benfica B | 25 | (3) |
2022–2023 | Benfica | 1 | (0) |
2023– | Chelsea | 0 | (0) |
2023–2024 | → Lyon (loan) | 7 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2019 | Belgium U15 | 2 | (0) |
2019–2020 | Portugal U16 | 12 | (1) |
2021 | Portugal U18 | 8 | (1) |
2022–2023 | Portugal U19 | 12 | (2) |
2023– | Portugal U20 | 4 | (0) |
2023– | Portugal U21 | 4 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14 January 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:02, 21 November 2023 (UTC) |
Diego Manuel Jadon da Silva Moreira (Portuguese pronunciation: [diˈɛɣu muˈɾɐjɾɐ]; born 6 August 2004), also known as Moreira Jr. is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Chelsea. Born in Belgium, he is a Portuguese youth international.
Contents
Early life
Moreira was born in Liège, where his father, former Guinea-Bissau international Almami Moreira, was then playing professional football at Standard de Liege.[2][3][4] From his mother's side, Diego is the grandson of Helmut Graf, a German-born footballer who also played for the Belgian club from 1976 to 1982.[5][6][7]
Club career
Early career
Coming through the youth ranks at Standard—where his father played until 2006[6]— Moreira first tried to leave the club in 2019 for personal reasons, training with Lierse Kempenzonen, but with the Belgian federation eventually not approving his move.[8] He ended up leaving Les Rouches for Benfica in August 2020, signing his first professional contract with the club from Lisbon, where his father lived.[2][3][4][9]
Benfica
Moreira started to play with Benfica's under-23 in the Liga Revelação midway through the 2020–21 season.[10] During the following season, he became a regular starter with the U23 team—scoring his first goal with the team during a 3–0 derby win against Sporting.[11] He made his professional debut for Benfica B on the 10 January 2022, replacing Tiago Gouveia for the last 15 minutes of a 1–2 home Segunda Liga loss to rivals Porto B.[12][13]
He played a major role in the UEFA Youth League, where Benfica U19 topped their group against Dynamo Kyiv, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Moreira most notably scoring a goal against the latter during a 4–0 home win in October 2021.[4][14][15] In the final phases, he scored a brace and provided two assists in a 4–0 derby win against Sporting in the quarter-finals; and provided another two assists in the final in a 6–0 win over Red Bull Salzburg to help Benfica win their first Youth League title, and their first title in European football since the 1961–62 European Cup.[16]
Under interim manager Nélson Veríssimo, Moreira was promoted to Benfica's first team alongside seven other Benfica youth team players, making his debut on 13 May 2022, in a 2–0 away win to Paços de Ferreira in the Primeira Liga.[17] However, after refusing to sign a new contract during the pre-season, he was demoted to the B team, and sporadically appeared for the latter, with the team's manager Luís Castro deeming his situation "difficult", before returning to the under-23's for the rest of the season.[18]
Chelsea
On 1 July 2023, Moreira joined Premier League club Chelsea, following the expiration of his contract with Benfica.[19] On 30 August 2023, he made his debut for the club starting in their EFL Cup second round tie against AFC Wimbledon, featuring for 45 minutes in the eventual 2–1 victory.[20]
Lyon (loan)
On 1 September 2023, Moreira joined Ligue 1 club Lyon on a season-long loan.[21] He made his debut for the club on 17 September, coming off the bench to replace Ernest Nuamah on the 77th minute of a 0–0 league draw at home to Le Havre.[22] Six days later, he made his first start for Les Gones, playing 52 minutes in a 1–0 league loss away at Brest.[23]
On 22 January 2024, Moreira was recalled from his loan by Chelsea.[24]
International career
A dual citizen of Belgium and Portugal[8][25]—while also eligible to play for both Guinea-Bissau and Germany—Moreira first played with the Belgium under-15 as he was a starter during their 3–1 win against England at St George's Park in February 2019.[26][27]
But even before leaving to play his club football in Portugal, the youngster chose to switch for the Lusitanian selection in 2019, becoming a regular with the under-16[3][4] and—after a covid-interrupted 2020–21 season—with the under-18.[28][29][30]
Style of play
A left-footed winger able to play on both sides of the attack, Moreira is described as a fast, explosive and technically gifted footballer, most notably excelling in dribbling past his opponent. He is compared to the likes of Portuguese international Nani.[31]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 19 January 2024 [32]
Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Benfica B | 2021–22 | Liga Portugal 2 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||
2022–23 | Liga Portugal 2 | 24 | 3 | — | — | — | 24 | 3 | ||||
Total | 25 | 3 | — | — | — | 25 | 3 | |||||
Benfica | 2021–22 | Primeira Liga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
2022–23 | Primeira Liga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
Chelsea | 2023–24 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
Lyon (loan) | 2023–24 | Ligue 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 9 | 0 | ||
Career total | 33 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 3 |
- ↑ Appearance in UEFA Champions League
Honours
Benfica U19
- Campeonato Nacional de Juniores: 2021–22[33]
- UEFA Youth League: 2021–22[34]
- Under-20 Intercontinental Cup: 2022[35]
References
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- ↑ Diego Moreira at Soccerway
- ↑ Raio X de Jogador Diego Moreira Benfica zerozero.pt
- ↑ Conheça os 24 heróis da Youth League (Benfica)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Profile at the Chelsea F.C. website
- Diego Moreira at Soccerway
- Diego Moreira national team profile at the Portuguese Football Federation Script error: No such module "In lang".
- Diego Moreira at playmakerstats.com
- Articles with short description
- Use dmy dates from January 2022
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages using infobox football biography with height issues
- 2004 births
- Living people
- Footballers from Liège
- Portuguese men's footballers
- Belgian men's footballers
- Belgium men's youth international footballers
- Portugal men's youth international footballers
- Portugal men's under-21 international footballers
- Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent
- Portuguese people of German descent
- Black Portuguese sportspeople
- Belgian people of Bissau-Guinean descent
- Belgian people of German descent
- Belgian people of Portuguese descent
- Black Belgian sportspeople
- Men's association football wingers
- S.L. Benfica B players
- S.L. Benfica footballers
- Chelsea F.C. players
- Olympique Lyonnais players
- Liga Portugal 2 players
- Primeira Liga players
- Ligue 1 players
- Portuguese expatriate men's footballers
- Belgian expatriate men's footballers
- Expatriate men's footballers in England
- Expatriate men's footballers in France
- Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England
- Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England
- Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France
- Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France