The curious case of the Portuguese Pele and Premier League Portsmouth

Yet Pele, as he was known, never played first-team football for the Blues – and totalled just 153 minutes for the reserves.

Certainly Tony Adams admits he knew little about the Porto midfielder he was encouraged to welcome into Premier League Pompey.

The then-Blues boss revealed Peter Storrie had championed the January 2009 signing of Pele, a 21-year-old who listed Inter Milan and Vitoria Guimaraes among former clubs.

The Portugal under-21 international arrived on the same day as Hayden Mullins, representing crucial reinforcements designed to rescue a faltering season for the cash-strapped Blues.

With a loan deal until the season’s end, there was the option to make Pele’s stay a permanent one should he impress.

However, he never made a first-team squad.

While his two reserve outings consisted of a 6-0 defeat at Chelsea and a 63-minute presence in a 2-2 draw with Fulham, in which he scored.

Adams told The News: ‘In that January it was about what was available.

‘We were looking around the world trying to get some cheaper options and trying to build the club.

‘‘Pele was just a kid. A loan which Peter wanted me to do.

‘I said “Peter, is he useful?”. He said “No, no, no”. So a player for the future. It was one to put in the B team to get a bit of experience.

‘It happens to be the first signing for Pompey, so people will look at that and say “Oh my God, you’ve got an inexperienced kid who can’t play, he’s in the reserves at Porto and you signed him. What is going on?”.

‘It did emphasise the message that we had gone from bringing in recruitment like Sol Campbell to B-team players for Porto.

‘That was purely a chance Pele might develop and I went with it because Peter was keen.

‘Maybe he was for the future, he might have been a player that would have done well for Pompey looking forward.

‘Pele did have a great free-kick on him, but I never saw a lot of him. He was not one I was going to be using.’

After returning to Portugal in the summer of 2009, Pele was sent back on loan, this time to Real Valladolid.

Then began a nomadic existence, with clubs including Eskisehirspor (Turkey) and then Greek sides Ergotelis, Olympiacos and Levadiakos, followed by Cypriot team Anorthosis Famagusta and Swedish club AFC Eskilstuna.

In January 2019, it was reported Pele had failed a medical at Romanian side Dunarea Calarasi, when a heart condition was detected.

That led to his retirement from football at the age of 31 – and having served 12 clubs.

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