Calita

Carlos Alberto Souto Maior Silva Batista (born 20 December 1972), commonly known as Calita, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a midfielder.

Calita
Personal information
Full name Carlos Alberto Souto Maior Silva Batista
Date of birth (1972-12-20) 20 December 1972
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal[note 1]
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1984–1990 Imortal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1994 Imortal
1994–1995 Farense 7 (1)
1995–1996 Coventry City 0 (0)
1996 → Boavista (loan) 4 (0)
1997 Nacional 9 (1)
1997–1998 Imortal 26 (4)
1998–2000 Louletano 44 (4)
2000 Lusitano
2000–2001 Quarteirense
2001–2002 Messinense
2003 Lusitano 17 (1)
2004–2006 Serrano
2006–2008 São Marcos
2008–2009 Imortal
2009–2011 Serrano
2011–2012 São Marcos
2013–2014 Guia
2015–2016 Guia
2016–2017 Santaclarense
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 May 2003

Football career

Calita started his career with Imortal DC. He had only played in seven Primeira Liga games for S.C. Farense when he was purchased by Coventry City on 5 July 1995, after failing a trial at Blackburn Rovers, for a fee reported as ranging from £125,000 to £350,000.[1] He never broke into the first team with the Premier League club and finished 1995–96 back in his country with Boavista, also in the top division.[2]

During his short spell in England, he was known as Carlita.[3] He was the first Portuguese footballer to be signed by an English Premier League club.[4] But he later revealed that he joined Coventry City after having been made false salary promises, and he left the club because his actual income was barely enough to live on.[5]

From 1997 until his retirement two decades later, Calita never played higher than the third level of Portuguese football and predominantly competed in the second regional division, with most of the teams hailing from the Algarve region.

Notes
  1. Per ForaDeJogo. Certain other sources 1, 2 suggest he was born in Angola.

References
  1. "Coventry City". Football Squads. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  2. "Boavista". Football Squads. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  3. Brown, Jim (12 October 2013). "Jim Brown: Big Ron's impulse buy didn't stay at Coventry City long". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  4. Nascimento, Hélio (13 August 2017). "Calita, o pioneiro português que nunca chegou a jogar na Premier League" (in Portuguese). Diário de Notícias. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  5. "Antiga promessa do futebol já não lamenta o passado" (in Portuguese). Correio da Manhã. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
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