Boa Morte playing against Manchester City |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luís Boa-Morte Pereira | ||
| Date of birth | 4 August 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Lisbon, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) [1] | ||
| Playing position | Left winger, Centre midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Free Agent | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1996 | Sporting CP | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1997–1999 | Arsenal | 25 | (0) |
| 1999–2001 | Southampton | 14 | (2) |
| 2000–2001 | → Fulham (loan) | 39 | (18) |
| 2001–2007 | Fulham | 156 | (27) |
| 2007–2011 | West Ham United | 91 | (2) |
| 2011 | Larissa F.C. | 7 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2001–2009 | Portugal | 28 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:08, 19 December 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Luís Boa-Morte Pereira (Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈiʃ ˈboɐ ˈmɔɾt(ɨ)]; born 4 August 1977 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese footballer who is currently a free agent. Boa Morte mainly plays as an attacking wide forward although he has played as a conventional centre midfielder.
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He started his professional career in August 1996 with Sporting Clube de Portugal, spending time on loan to junior club Lourinhanense.
Boa Morte made his debut in English football for Arsenal when he became one of Arsène Wenger's first signings for the club, joining for a fee of £1.75 million.
He made his debut on 23 August 1997 as a substitute against Southampton. During Arsenal's double winning 1997–98 season, he made 15 league appearances, mostly as substitute and four in the FA Cup, although he did not appear in the final itself. He scored two goals this season, with both coming in a League Cup tie against Birmingham City.[2]
The following season he was a fairly regular squad member, usually as substitute in the early part of the season, with a few European Cup appearances, including against Panathinaikos on 9 December 1998, when he scored Arsenal's third goal.[3] His fourth and final Arsenal goal came against Preston North End in the FA Cup.[4] His final appearance for Arsenal was as a second half substitute away to Sunderland on 14 August 1999.
After failing to break into Arsenal's first-team on a regular basis, in August 1999, Boa Morte was signed for Southampton by Dave Jones for a fee of around £500,000 with further payments to be based on appearances.
In only his second appearance for Southampton, away to Middlesbrough on 11 September 1999, he was sent off for handling the ball in the goalmouth in the 77th minute, with Paul Gascoigne scoring the resultant penalty as Middlesbrough went on to win 3–2.
In January 2000, Dave Jones was replaced as manager by Glenn Hoddle, who dropped Boa Morte from the team. After Hoddle's appointment, Boa Morte only made three further appearances and in July 2000 he had a trial at Fulham, following which he moved to Craven Cottage, initially on a season long loan. As a result, the first installment on the fee due to Arsenal was never paid.
In his season at The Dell, he made a total of 17 appearances, mostly as substitute, with one goal – a thundering left foot drive at Watford in a 2–3 defeat on 28 December 1999.[5]
In his first season at Fulham, he helped Jean Tigana win the 2000–01 Division 1, making 39 league appearances and scoring 18 goals as Fulham ran away with the Championship with a total of 101 points.
His contributions to the championship-winning season resulted in him being signed permanently in June 2001 (on a fee of £1.7 million paid to Arsenal), despite Southampton's attempts to bring him back after the expiry of the loan arrangement.
In Fulham's first two seasons in the Premiership, he was not able to replicate his form of the Championship winning season, scoring only three goals, although his form returned to some extent in 2003–04, since when he has averaged eight goals per season. He was also voted Player of the Season for 2004–05.[6]
In August 2005, he was chased by Newcastle United but pledged his future to Fulham and was made team captain. His crowning moment in a Fulham shirt was when he scored the only goal in the 1–0 win over Chelsea in the West London derby on 19 March 2006 at Craven Cottage.
He became a favourite amongst Fulham's supporters whilst he played for them, for his impassioned, never-say-die and sometimes aggressive style of play — although this has led to problems with referees.[7] Even though his form dipped towards the end of his Fulham career, he was considered something of a cult hero there due to his ability to take players on, his ability to "cause panic like an unpinned grenade in the opposition ranks", and his "emotional character, a trait that strengthened the bond between him and the fans".[8]
Boa Morte signed for West Ham United in January 2007 on a three and a half year contract for an undisclosed fee, which was believed to be around £5 million.[9]
He played his first game for the Hammers in an FA Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion, setting up two goals and on 13 January 2007 in the Premier League against former team Fulham. On 28 April 2007, he scored his first goal for the club in an important 3–0 win against Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium.[10] On 29 July 2009, Boa Morte picked up a serious injury in the pre-season friendly against Tottenham Hotspur. West Ham were playing in the Barclays Asia Trophy in Beijing when Boa Morte got his studs stuck in the ground, twisted his knee and suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury.[11] Boa Morte made his comeback from injury on 13 April 2010, playing 45 minutes in a reserve team 4–1 defeat by Wolves reserves.[12] Making an appearance in the first team for the first time since the end of 2008–09 season he opened the scoring for West Ham against Manchester City in a 1–1 draw on 9 May 2010.[13] It was his first goal for West Ham for over three years.[14] In June 2010, West Ham Chairman David Sullivan announced that Boa Morte had been offered a new deal as his contract was due to finish at the end of the 2009-10 season.[15] On 17 June 2010, Boa Morte signed a new two-year contract saying that he was looking forward to working with new West Ham manager, Avram Grant for the next two seasons.[16] In August 2011 Boa Morte's contract with West Ham was cancelled by mutual consent.[17]
In August 2011 Boa Morte signed a two-year contract with Larissa.[18] He thus rejoined former coach Chris Coleman whom he worked with over 4 years at Fulham FC. Luis Boa Morte is committed to bringing Larissa back to top flight football in Greece. He provided his first assist in an impressive 3-0 away win over Veria F.C. on the 20th of November 2011.
Due to a number of impressive performances for Fulham, Boa Morte was called up to the Portuguese national team, winning his first cap in April 2001 against France.
His first, and so far only, goal came in a 5–1 home win against Angola in November 2001,[19] a game which had to be abandoned when Angola were reduced to six players on the pitch.[20]
Despite an impressive season at club level, Boa Morte was disappointed to be left out of his country’s squad for the 2004 European Championships on home soil. However, the winger was part of Portugal’s 2006 World Cup campaign in Germany, playing in the 2–1 victory over Mexico on 21 June 2006, in the group stages of the tournament as Portugal reached the semifinals.
After an absence of three years, Boa Morte was recalled, by Carlos Queiroz to the Portuguese squad on 29 May 2009.[21] He earned his first cap since 2006 on 6 June 2009 in Portugal's 2–1 win in Tirana against Albania in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.[22] Boa Morte has so far made 28 appearances scoring once since making his debut in 2001 for Portugal.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 November 2001 | Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal | Angola | 4–1 | 5-1 | Friendly |
Correct as of 19 December 2011 (UTC) [23]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1997–98 | Arsenal | Premier League | 15 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 2 |
| 1998–99 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 2 | ||
| 1999–2000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1999–2000 | Southampton | Premier League | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| 2000–01 | Fulham | First Division | 39 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 21 |
| 2001–02 | Premier League | 23 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 2 | |
| 2002–03 | 29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 43 | 5 | ||
| 2003–04 | 33 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 10 | ||
| 2004–05 | 31 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 9 | ||
| 2005–06 | 35 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 7 | ||
| 2006–07 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | ||
| 2006–07 | West Ham United | Premier League | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 2007–08 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 0 | ||
| 2009–10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2010-11 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| 2011–2012 | Larissa | Football League | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Total | England | 335 | 47 | 31 | 3 | 29 | 8 | 16 | 3 | 412 | 61 | |
| Total | Greece | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| Career total | 342 | 47 | 31 | 3 | 29 | 8 | 16 | 3 | 419 | 61 | ||
Boa Morte made a guest appearance on an episode of the BBC Children's Drama Series, Grange Hill. In the episode from 1999 he played himself giving out prizes at a school sports day.[25]
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