Adrien Silva

Adrien Sébastien Perruchet da Silva (born 15 March 1989) is a professional footballer who plays for Primeira Liga club Rio Ave.

A central midfielder, he is known for his dribbling and passing skills.

He began his career with Sporting CP, making his first-team debut at the age of 18.

At the age of 15 he was scouted by Chelsea, along with Portugal under-16 teammates Ricardo Fernandes and Fábio Ferreira, and the three players trained at the English club's facilities in January 2005.

Sporting filed a complaint with FIFA that Chelsea had not followed the correct procedures, and Silva stayed with Sporting, although Fernandes and Ferreira did later move to the London club.

In March 2007, Silva signed his first professional contract, agreeing to a five-year deal with Sporting.

In July, after spending the final two months of the season playing with the reserve team, he was officially promoted to the main squad by manager Paulo Bento ahead of the upcoming campaign.

He made his Primeira Liga debut on 17 August, taking the field as a late substitute in a 4–1 home win against Académica de Coimbra; on 12 December, after appearing as an unused substitute in several league and European matches, he made his first professional start and Champions League debut in a 3–0 victory over FC Dynamo Kyiv.

Four days later, he made his first start in the league in a 2–1 win at C.S. Marítimo.

Silva featured in both legs of Sporting's round of 32 win against Bolton Wanderers in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup.

On 16 April he started in the 5–3 win over S.L. Benfica in the semi-finals of the Taça de Portugal, being replaced after only 35 minutes in what was the last of his 15 appearances of the season.

In ten years with the club he played 237 games and scored 39 goals, and won the 2008 and 2015 Taça de Portugal trophies.

He had loan spells with Maccabi Haifa and Académica, where he won the Portuguese Cup again.

As in his first year, Silva struggled for minutes in 2008–09.

He played his first match on 22 November 2008 in a 1–0 league defeat of Associação Naval 1º de Maio, playing 16 minutes off the bench.

He made his first start in a 3–0 home win against Marítimo in the Taça da Liga, and he also made Bento's starting XI three months later in the Lions' 1–7 loss to FC Bayern Munich in the Champions League last 16 second leg.

He made 19 appearances in all competitions, notably playing the full 90 minutes in home wins against of C.F. Estrela da Amadora and C.D. Nacional.

Silva scored his first career goal in a UEFA Europa League group stage match against Hertha BSC, the match-winner in a 1–0 win, when he also was sent off after collecting a second yellow card in injury time.

On 28 November 2009, in the Lisbon derby, which ended 0–0, he made headlines in the Portuguese media because he covered the most distance of any Sporting player, having traveled over 10,049 m. Coach Carlos Carvalhal started him in 13 of the team's next 15 matches, but he eventually fell out of favour, as Sporting went on to finish in only fourth place with 48 points, the club's worst points total since the 1992–93 campaign.

On 27 June 2010, it was announced that Silva would be joining Israeli side Maccabi Haifa F.C. on a season-long loan deal.

The move was facilitated by the player's agent Pini Zahavi, based in Tel Aviv.

He made his debut for his new team on 29 July, in the first leg of the Europa League third qualifying round tie against FC Dinamo Minsk; he was rarely played in the Israeli Premier League, but was a regular in the campaign in the Toto Cup.

In January 2011, it was reported that Silva was considering going back to Portugal to regain match fitness.

On 5 July 2011, Sporting and Académica extended the loan for a further season.

On 26 September, completely recovered from his injury, Silva scored his first career brace in a 4–0 home win against C.D. Feirense; on 19 November, in the fourth round of the Portuguese Cup, he scored his team's second in a 3–0 shock victory over Porto, adding another double in the next round against Leixões SC (5–2 after extra time).

He played the full 90 minutes in the final, a 1–0 defeat of Sporting which saw the Coimbra side lift their first domestic cup in 73 years.

After returning to Sporting, Silva was awarded the club's Player of the Year award on 28 November 2013.

He made his senior debut in 2014 and played at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, winning the former tournament.

Silva was born in Angoulême, Poitou-Charentes, France, to a Portuguese father and a French mother.

He began his football career at the age of 10 with FC Girondins de Bordeaux, but after one year there his father, who worked in aeronautics, returned to Portugal and the family settled in Arcos de Valdevez.

Silva spent two seasons with local Associação Recreativa e Cultural de Paçô, who later began to host a tournament in his honour, the A.R.C.Paçô–Adrien Silva Tournament, held every June.

Silva then spent six years in Sporting CP's academy, and won four national and three regional championships.

He scored a career-best ten competitive goals in the 2014–15 season, while also helping the team reach and win the final of the Portuguese Cup.

On the 16th, he spoke of his desire, telling daily sports newspaper A Bola: "Returning to Portugal is an option that I like a lot since I can be followed more closely. In Israel, I don't have great visibility"; Three days later, a six-month loan to Académica de Coimbra was confirmed.

Silva found the net in his first appearance with the Students, who were defeated 2–1 away against S.C. Olhanense.

He was again used rarely, but now due to injury problems – he fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot in a game with U.D. Leiria in March, which sidelined him for the rest of the season.

In August 2016, Silva confirmed in an interview with Portuguese newspaper O Jogo that Leicester City were interested in signing him.

However, a deal could not be agreed on deadline day as Sporting wanted the club to pay his £38.5 million release clause.

He signed with Leicester City in 2018, then served two loan stints at Monaco.

Born in France, Silva won 46 caps for Portugal at youth level, including 13 for the under-21 team.