Talent Scout #1

Nuno Gomes
aka Nuno DeSousa Nelson Gomes
Club: Lisboa FC
Nationality: Portugal

Ever contraversial, the Lisboa striker is one of the most famous Portuguese footballers to have come from the Iberian Peninsula.

Hailing from a football mad family, Nuno Gomes had five brothers who played indoor soccer and another eight cousins who played soccer. The family of footballers eventually entered a team in Division 19 of the Lisbon League. The team known as The Arrogance ended up in 2nd place, and were promoted to Division 18. Nuno Gomes, playing alongside cousin Chris Smith, shone throughout the season and picked up the Golden Boot and Lisbona Player of the Year.

However, the following year saw him have a public spat with Chris, with the latter accusing Gomes of being overly arrogant. In an act of jealousy, Chris stole the trophies and ran off to New Zealand.

That year Nuno Gomes left for Fiorentina, where he would form a, then unrivalled strikeforce with Gabriel Batistuta and Enrico Chiesa.

Nuno Gomes made his debut for Portugal in 1997 against The Peoples Republic of Mean. The Portuguese were destroyed by Mean McClean (father of The Sam) scorer of all four goals, in a 4-0 thrashing. Nuno Gomes was infamously sent off.

The Lisboa striker got sent off another seven times in his international career, the most famous being against South Korea in the 2002 World Cup.

His club career took a massive u-turn when Fiorentina got relegated to Serie C, and so he was offloaded to Benfica, his home for the next three years.
Then, in 2005 he moved to Lisboa FC, the home of his cousin Chris Smith. They kissed and made up and the two were reunited in the team.

The Portuguese striker has a killer instinct in front of goal, able to score with both feet, his head, and more impressively, his gluteus maximus.
His tackling needs a bit of work, Gomes has one of the highest foul rates on the planet and has injured many players, including himself, but his goal-scoring makes up for that.

The Lisboa striker is one of the teams greatest assets and Chris Smiths close friend.