Alfa Semedo

Alfa Semedo Esteves (born 30 August 1997) is a Bissau-Guinean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Reading on loan from Benfica.[2][3]

This name uses Portuguese naming customs: the first or maternal family name is Semedo and the second or paternal family name is Esteves.
Alfa Semedo
Personal information
Full name Alfa Semedo Esteves[1]
Date of birth (1997-08-30) 30 August 1997
Place of birth Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Reading
(on loan from Benfica)
Number 30
Youth career
2014 Fidjus di Bideras
2014–2016 Benfica
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2017 → Vilafranquense (loan) 29 (4)
2017–2018 Moreirense 28 (2)
2018– Benfica 5 (0)
2019 → Espanyol (loan) 3 (0)
2019–2020 → Nottingham Forest (loan) 24 (2)
2020– → Reading (loan) 17 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:15, 26 December 2020 (UTC)

Career

Born in Bissau, Semedo started playing football at local club Fidjus di Bideras. In 2014, aged 16, he moved to Portugal and joined Benfica's youth system. After playing two years for their juniors team, he was loaned out to Vilafranquense in Campeonato de Portugal for one season.[4] On 8 July 2017, he signed a four-year contract with Moreirense in Primeira Liga, with whom he would make his professional debut in a Taça da Liga match against Desportivo das Aves on 30 July that year.[5]

Following his return to Benfica in July 2018 for €2.5 million,[6][7] Semedo debuted for the first team in a 3–2 home win over Vitória de Guimarães in Primeira Liga on 10 August. Later, on 2 October, he made his UEFA Champions League debut, scoring his first and winning goal for Benfica in a 3–2 away victory over AEK Athens in the UEFA Champions League group stage, thus ending the former's eight-match losing streak in the competition's group stage.[8][9]

On 31 January 2019, Semedo was loaned out to La Liga side RCD Espanyol until June.[10] On 8 July, he joined English club Nottingham Forest on a season-long loan, along with Benfica teammate Yuri Ribeiro (the latter on a permanent transfer).[11] He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 away win over Swansea City on 14 September 2019.[12]

Semedo joined Reading on a season-long loan for the 2020-21 season. He made his debut in a 1-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers on 20 October 2020. He scored his first goal for Reading in a 2–1 win over Luton Town on 26 December 2020.[13]

Career statistics
As of match played 23 July 2020[14]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Benfica 2016–17 Primeira Liga 0000000000
Vilafranquense (loan) 2016–17 Campeonato de Portugal 2945000—344
Moreirense 2017–18 Primeira Liga 2823031—343
Benfica 2018–19 Primeira Liga 50203051151
2019–20 Primeira Liga 0000000000
Total 50303051161
Espanyol (loan) 2018–19 La Liga 3000000030
Nottingham Forest (loan) 2019–20 EFL Championship 242101000262
Reading (loan) 2020–21 EFL Championship 2000000020
Career total 918100715111510

Honours

Benfica

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Nottingham Forest" (PDF). English Football League. p. 49. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  2. Alfa Semedo signs for Royals
  3. Alfa Semedo loaned out
  4. "Alfa Semedo: O regresso do "Pogba" da Guiné-Bissau" [Alfa Semedo: The return of Guinea-Bissau's "Pogba"] (in Portuguese). Bola na Rede. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  5. "Moreirense 1–0 Aves". ForaDeJogo. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  6. Benfica explica quanto pagou pelos reforços: Ferreyra veio a custo zero mas custou 4 ME SAPO Desporto
  7. "Águias oficializam regresso de Alfa Semedo" [Eagles officialise Alfa Semedo's return]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 3 July 2018. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  8. Ridge, Patrice (2 October 2018). "AEK Athens 2 Benfica 3: Semedo stunner settles five-goal thriller". Goal.com. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  9. Gatopoulos, Derek (2 October 2018). "Champions League: Semedo helps Benfica beat AEK 3-2". USA Today. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  10. "Semedo, nuevo jugador del RCD Espanyol" [Semedo, new player of RCD Espanyol] (in Spanish). RCD Espanyol. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  11. "Nottingham Forest: Alfa Semedo & Yuri Ribeiro join from Benfica". BBC Sport. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  12. "Swansea 0–1 Nottingham Forest". BBC Sport. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  13. "Reading 2-1 Luton". BBC. 26 December 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  14. Alfa Semedo at Soccerway
  15. "São estes os campeões nacionais pelo Benfica em 2018/19" [These are the national champions for Benfica in 2018–19]. Record (in Portuguese). 18 May 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
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