Gelson Fernandes

Gelson da Conceição Tavares Fernandes (born 2 September 1986) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Fernandes was promoted to the first team in 2004 after being called by manager Gilbert Gress.

Having previously made a total of five appearances in the 2004–05 season, the 2005–06 season proved to be the breakout year for the player as he got more playing time for Sion, playing in the central midfielder position for the side.

Fernandes also led his team win the Swiss Cup in a penalty shootout (5–3) against Young Boys.

In his first full season at the club, he went on to make 22 league appearances and scoring none.

In the 2006–07 season, Fernandes continued to remain in the first team for Sion, playing in the midfield position.

He then scored his first goals of the season, in a 3–1 win against FC Naters in the first round of the Swiss Cup.

Fernandes then made his European debut for Sion in a 0–0 draw against Bayer Leverkusen, in a 0–0 draw in the first round of the UEFA Cup first leg.

In the return leg, he scored his first European Cup goal against Leverkusen which Sion lost 3–1 on aggregate.

On 14 October 2006, Fernandes scored his first league goal for Sion in a 1–1 draw against Luzern.

On the final league game of the 2006–07 season, he received a second bookable offense in the 90th minute after receiving a yellow card in a first half, which turned out to be his last appearance for Sion as Sion won 3–0 against St. Gallen.

At the end of the 2006–07 season, Fernandes went on to make forty–one appearances (35 in the league) and scoring four times in all competitions.

Fernandes signed for Manchester City from Sion on 14 July 2007 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around €6 million (£4.2 million), which would make his sale the second highest transfer in the history of the Swiss League.

Following his signing, Sven-Göran Eriksson commented that he thought Fernandes was the "best young player in Switzerland."

Upon joining the club, he was given a number twenty–eight shirt.

Fernandes made his Manchester City debut, starting the whole game, in a 2–1 win against Bristol City in the second round of the League Cup.

Two months later on 20 October 2007, he made his league debut after coming on for Elano in the 89th minute in a 1–0 victory over Birmingham City.

By November, Fernandes soon established himself in the starting eleven, playing in the midfield position.

At the end of the 2007–08 season, he went on to make thirty–two appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.

He scored his first goal in a 2–0 victory against Newcastle United on 2 January 2008, after coming on as a substitute for Stephen Ireland and it took just 40 seconds for Fernandes and Kelvin Etuhu to combine for the former to finish from the edge of the box.

It wasn't until on 2 February 2008 when he scored his second goal in the 1–3 loss to Arsenal at the City of Manchester Stadium when Vedran Ćorluka took advantage of a Gaël Clichy defensive error, who slipped in a pass into the six-yard box for Fernandes to tuck home.

The goal was not enough to secure any points for Manchester City, but showed the City fans that Fernandes was also capable of having an eye for goal like fellow youth midfielder, Michael Johnson.

At the start of the 2008–09 season, Fernandes switched number shirt from number 28 to number 19 after his previous number was taken by Daniel Sturridge.

He then scored his first goal of the season against Portsmouth on 21 September 2008, as Manchester City won 6–0.

Three days later on 24 September 2008, Fernandes scored his second goal of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion in the second round of the League Cup, as the club lost 5–3 on penalties following a 2–2 draw throughout the 120 minutes match.

He found his playing time, mostly coming from the substitute bench after Mark Hughes took over as manager.

As the 2008–09 season progressed, Fernandes found himself away from the first team further, due to being on the substitute bench and his own injury concern.

At the end of the 2008–09 season, he went on to make twenty–seven appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.

Following this, it was expected that Fernandes would be leaving Manchester City, as clubs from Europe were interested in signing him.

On 9 July 2009, Fernandes passed a medical to complete a £2 million move to Ligue 1 side Saint-Étienne and the move was confirmed the next day, signing a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

He made his league debut in the opening game of the season against Nice, starting a match and played 64 minutes before being substituted, in a 0–2 loss.

Since joining the club, Fernandes quickly established himself playing in the defensive midfield position.

At one point, he played in the right–back position, coming against Sochaux on 5 December 2009.

His time at Saint Etienne had a difficult start and Fernandes moved little-by-little in the middle with some fighting and a good state of mind without being convincing.

Despite this, he later helped the club avoid relegation and finished seventeenth place in the league.

At the end of the 2009–10 season, Fernandes went on to make thirty–eight appearances in all competitions for Saint-Étienne in his first season.

He is most well known for scoring the winner against eventual champions Spain in a group game at the 2010 World Cup.

Fernandes started his football career at FC Sion when he first joined the club at age seven years old.

After fallen out of favour by Manager Christophe Galtier and was told that he can leave Saint-Étienne on loan, it was announced on 30 August 2010, it was announced that Fernandes would be going out on loan with an option to purchase to Chievo.

He made his debut for the club, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute, in a 3–1 win over Genoa on 12 September 2010.