Born in Porto, he started playing football at FC Porto in 2002/03. In the following season, he moved to Sporting, a club where he did the rest of his formative years until he made his debut with the first team in 2011/12. He also represented V. Setúbal (2013/14, on loan), and West Ham (2017/18), and Lokomotiv Moscow (2019/20), these two on loan from Inter.
A center midfielder with great organizational skills, he manages with mastery the pace of the matches. As a senior player, he won, besides the European Championship for Portugal, 1 National Championship, 1 Portuguese Cup, 1 Cândido de Oliveira Supercup, and 1 League Cup.
With a career in the youth national teams, he went from Under-15 to Under-21, where he bagged 82 caps and scored 14 goals.
