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| Viana in his Newcastle days |
Hugo Viana began his career at Sporting Lisbon, and hit the ground running by turning in a string of tremendous performances in his debut season. This captured the attention of clubs Europe wide, with Fifa also sitting up and taking note.
The worlds governing body awarded 19-year-old Viana the Young European Footballer of the Year award, which was enough to persuade Bobby Robson to part with his cash and bring him to Newcastle United. A fee of around £8.5m saw Sporting part with their young starlet, and expectations about the youngster around St James Park were certainly high.
Unfortunately his big move didn't go according to plan, as you have now probably gathered by the title, and his career in the northeast quickly turned sour. After two dismal years he was loaned back to his old club, before returning and quickly being shipped out once again.
This time it was to Valencia, where an initial years loan was made permanent for around £1.5m the following year. This marked a huge loss for Newcastle, but also another chance for Viana to show he wasn't a flash in the pan. He again flattered to deceive and after two years in which the half century appearance mark again fell out of range, as with Newcastle, another loan spell followed.
This time it was with La Liga rivals Osasuna followed by a trip back home with Sporting Braga the following year. It was the latter move that was again made permanent, where he remains to this day. One of his best day's back home came just over two months ago, when, with the game tied at 0-0 he scored from his own half in the 94th minute.
On the international front he represented Portugal under-21s for three years, before progressing up the ranks. Withe the seniors he has travelled to two World Cups, one European Championship and an Olympics.
