Lino Goncalves

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Lino Goncalves (born Nov. 21, 1988 in Madeira Funchal) is a football midfielder who is currently without a club, having ended his contract with Fulham FC in summer 2008. He has also represented Portugal at u17, u18, and u19.

He grew up in Victoria-Pimlico on South West London's Churchill Gardens Estate. From a young age you could see Lino's talent, he first started playing football for the local youth club St Andrews FC based in Victoria, and Cultural, a Portuguese club, but was quickly spotted by Fulham FC and went on to join the academy ranks at the Premiership club.

Having been born only 5 miles away from where fellow countryman Christiano Ronaldo was raised, the young winger has drawn many similarities with the Manchester United FC player with his abundance of skill pace and surging runs catching the admiring glances of many clubs both in England and his native Portugal. However Lino signed a Scholarship at Fulham FC and in the 2006/07 season was a regular for the reserves and U18's side.

His strong performances at reserve level were rewarded with a promotion to train with the first team squad for the start of the 2007/08 season.

Comfortable on the left or right wing, Lino is also a specialist at set pieces and dead ball situations and recently received plaudits for his role in Fulham's 2-1 U18 win over Chelsea. Lino has recently mutally ended his contract with the club, due to insufficient first team opportunities. He is being chased by Newcastle United along with other European teams. Goncalves has been linked with a move to Sporting Lisbon.