Name Esmael Goncalves Career start 2011 2005–2008 Boavista Weight 75 kg | Number TBA Height 1.84 m Role Footballer | |
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Full name Esmael Ruti Tavares Cruz
da Silva Goncalves Date of birth (1991-06-25) 25 June 1991 (age 24) Current teams Ettifaq FC (Forward), Guinea-Bissau national football team (Forward) | ||
Place of birth Bissau, Guinea-Bissau Playing position | ||
Esmael goncalves rio ave
Esmaël Ruti Tavares Cruz da Silva Gonçalves (born 25 June 1991), known as Esmaël Gonçalves or "Isma", is an Portuguese footballer who plays as a striker/winger for Heart of Midlothian.
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Esmael goncalves great skill and run st mirren 0 1 hibernian 16 02 2013
France
Gonçalves was born in Bissau, the capital city of Guinea-Bissau, but moved to Portugal with his family at the age of three. He began his football career with Boavista. Since leaving Boavista, Gonçalves claims the club never paid him his wages, which he described this as "very hard". Gonçalves spent three years at the club before venturing to France to sign with Nice after being invited to trial at the club. Prior to signing with the club, he drew interest from English club Liverpool. Gonçalves spent two years in Nice's youth academy before earning promotion to the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur 2 for the 2010–11 season. Following a successful first half at reserve level, he was called up to the senior team in January 2011 and made his professional debut in a 2–0 defeat to Bordeaux appearing as a substitute. That was his only senior team appearance of the campaign.
On 30 June 2011, Gonçalves signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal until 2014. He was officially promoted to the senior team by manager Éric Roy and assigned the number 24 shirt for the 2011–12 season. Gonçalves made his season debut on 14 August appearing as a substitute in a 1–0 loss to Evian. Two weeks later, he made another appearance from the bench in a 0–0 draw with Brest. His most famous moment with the French side came in a famous 4–3 away win v Olympique Lyonais, where'Isma' netted the winner.
Return to Portugal
On 3 August 2012, Nice confirmed on its official website that Gonçalves would be returning to Portugal to join first division club Rio Ave. Gonçalves had previously expressed his desire to join the Vila do Conde-based club in order to be near his family.
St Mirren (loan)
On 22 January 2013, he signed on loan with Scottish Premier League club St Mirren until the end of the 2012–13 season. The day after he had signed on loan with the Paisley club, he was quoted in the local newspaper that he could be "the next Drogba". He followed up this bold statement with a confident four goals in his first three games for the club.
Gonçalves scored his first goal for the club on his debut in the Scottish League Cup semi-final in a 3–2 win over Celtic at Hampden Park. Gonçalves' goal was the first goal St Mirren had scored against Celtic since March 2010. Three days later, "Isma" made his first Scottish Premier League appearance against Inverness, nutmegging the goalkeeper to score his first league goal for St Mirren in a 2–1 victory.
In his first Scottish Cup appearance against St Johnstone, Gonçalves scored a brace to give St Mirren a 2–0 victory. Soon after in February and March 2013 saw St Mirren experience a set of unfortunate results, with only one win in seven games which was a 2–0 victory over Hearts. Despite this, Gonçalves continued to play in good form and scored another goal against Celtic at St Mirren Park in a 2–1 loss in the sixth round of the Scottish Cup.
On 17 March 2013, Gonçalves played in the Scottish League Cup final against Hearts where he scored the equalising goal and provided an assist for Conor Newton's third in a 3–2 victory to help St Mirren win their first League Cup and their first major trophy since 1987. Shortly scoring the final, Gonçalves lifted his jersey, which had the inscription "Forca Fábio Faria" (translate "Strength Fábio Faria"), dedicating a goal to him, whose career ended after a heart condition. Gonçalves was then booked by the referee.
In a 1–1 draw against Celtic on 31 March 2013, Gonçalves caused controversy when he dived to win the penalty after being fouled by Emilio Izaguirre, though there's no proof that Izaguirre touched Gonçalves in the penalty box, thanks to TV pictures. After the match, Gonçalves was given a two match ban by the SFA, following an issue of complaint for his action of diving, which he accept to miss two match. Gonçalves then told BBC Scotland he's happy to make a return to St.Mirren in the future. The club was willing to make the move to sign Gonçalves permanent. At the first, parent club Rio Ave announced their decision that he will not return to the club, the following season. But then, the club told St.Mirren that they must pay £400K to sign Gonçalves permanently.
APOEL (loan)
On 3 July 2013, he completed a move to Cypriot side APOEL, on a season-long loan deal from Rio Ave. Before his move to APOEL, Gonçalves have attracted interests from clubs in Nottingham Forest, Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen, who attempt to sign him on loan.
He scored on his APOEL debut against NK Maribor at GSP Stadium on 31 July 2013, opening the scoring in a 1–1 first leg draw for the third qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League. On 24 October 2013, he scored the equaliser against Bordeaux in APOEL's 2–1 defeat at Stade Chaban-Delmas for the third matchday of the UEFA Europa League group stage.
He scored his first league goals in APOEL's 5–0 home victory against AEK Kouklia on 2 December 2013, in a match which Gonçalves managed to score a hat-trick.
On 31 December 2013, APOEL terminated Esmaël's contract with the club by mutual consent.
Veria (loan)
On 14 January 2014, Veria signed Esmaël on a one-year loan deal. He scored his first Superleague goal in Veria's defeat against PAOK.
Heart of Midlothian
After a stint in Cyprus with Anorthosis, Goncalves signed for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian in January 2017. Hearts paid a transfer fee of about ₤170,000 for his services and he made his debut in a 4-1 win over Rangers on 1 February.
International career
Though born in the Guinea-Bissau, Gonçalves is a naturalized citizen of Portugal. He has represented Portugal at under-17 level. In 2010, he was called up to the Portugal under-20 team to participate in training sessions as the team was preparing for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Gonçalves, however, showed up to the camp out of shape and was, ultimately, not considered for the tournament by coach Ilídio Vale.