Adrien Silva

Club

Al Wahda

Position

Midfielder

Nationality

Portugal

Date of birth

1989-03-15

Birthplace

Angoulême, France

Height

1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)

Shirt number

23

Signing / transfer fee

Free

Adrien Sébastien Perruchet da Silva (born 15 March 1989), known as Adrien Silva, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Al Wahda and the Portugal national team, as a central midfielder.

He played mostly for Sporting since making his first-team debut at the age of 18, and was loaned to Maccabi Haifa and Académica, winning the Taça de Portugal with the latter in addition to the same honour at Sporting. Known for his dribbling and passing qualities he was described by Paulo Bento, who managed him at the latter, as a "complete midfielder" who "wets his jersey in every game he plays".

Silva gained 46 caps for Portugal all youth categories comprised, including 13 for the under-21 team. He made his senior international debut in 2014.

Club career
Early years
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 five playing for FC Girondins de Bordeaux but, after six years at the club, his father, who worked in aeronautics, returned to Portugal and the family settled in Arcos de Valdevez, and he spent two seasons with local Associação Recreativa e Cultural de Paçô.

Silva's performances led to interest from the Big Three in Portugal, Sporting Clube de Portugal, F.C. Porto and S.L. Benfica, and he ultimately chose to join the second, as his former club eventually came to host a tournament in his honour called Torneio A.R.C.Paçô–Adrien Silva (English: A.R.C.Paçô–Adrien Silva Tournament), held every June.

In his six-year stint in Sporting's academy Silva won seven total titles, which consisted of four national championships and three regional ones. At the age of 15 he, along with Portuguese under-16 teammates Ricardo Fernandes and Fábio Ferreira, was scouted by English club Chelsea, with the three players later travelling to London and training at the club's facilities; however, the approach was eventually called off after Sporting filed a complaint with FIFA in January 2005, but Fernandes and Ferreira eventually did sign.

Sporting
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 2006–07 season playing with the reserve team, he was officially promoted to the senior team by manager Paulo Bento ahead of the upcoming campaign. He made his Primeira Liga debut on 17 August, appearing as a late substitute in a 4–1 home win against Académica de Co