Gelson Fernandes

Gelson Fernandes (born 2 September 1986 in Praia) is a Switzerland Association football midfielder born in the Cape Verde Islands who plays for AS Saint-Étienne in the Ligue 1, as well as the Switzerland national football team.

Club career

Manchester City

Gelson Fernandes signed for Manchester City from FC Sion on 14 July 2007 for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around 6 million euros (£4.2m), which would make Gelson Fernandes sale the second highest transfer in the history of the Swiss League. Following Gelson Fernandes signing, City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson commented that Gelson Fernandes thought Fernandes was the "best young player in Switzerland." Gelson Fernandes made Gelson Fernandes full debut in the 0-0 draw against Portsmouth F.C..

Gelson Fernandes first goal for Man City came in a 2–0 victory against Newcastle United F.C. after coming on as a substitute. It took just 40 seconds for Fernandes and Kelvin Etuhu to combine for the former to finish from the edge of the box. Gelson scored Gelson Fernandes second goal in the 1–3 loss to Arsenal F.C. at the City of Manchester Stadium. Vedran Corluka took advantage of a Gael Clichy defensive error, who slipped in a pass into the 6 yard box for Gelson to tuck home. The goal was not enough to secure any points for Manchester City, but showed the City Fans that Gelson Fernandes was also capable of having an eye for goal like fellow youth midfielder, Michael Johnson (footballer born 1988).

At the start of the 2008-2009 season Gelson Fernandes had Gelson Fernandes number changed from number 28 to number 19. The number 28 shirt was taken by English and former Manchester City striker Daniel Sturridge (now at Chelsea F.C.). Gelson Fernandes has since scored twice in the 08/09 season with goals against Brighton and the final goal in the 6-0 win against Portsmouth. Gelson made 59 appearances for City, scoring four times, but Gelson Fernandes was increasingly used as a substitute after Mark Hughes took over as Blues’ boss.

AS Saint-Etienne

On 09 July 2009, Gelson Fernandes moved on trial to AS Saint-Étienne and passed a medical on Friday the 09 July 2009 to complete a £2m move to the French club.. Gelson Fernandes will sign a two year contract and moved on undisclosed fee.

International career

Fernandes was captain of the Switzerland national under-21 football team side that played against the England national under-21 football team side in their Euro 2007 qualifying match.

Gelson Fernandes made Gelson Fernandes first full international appearance for Switzerland national football team against Holland national football team on 22 August 2007. Gelson Fernandes has since continued to be a regular for Switzerland, playing in their friendly defeat to England national football team at Wembley stadium in February 2008. Gelson Fernandes also played in all three of the Swiss side's Euro 2008 fixtures. On 28 March 2009, Fernandes scored Gelson Fernandes first goal for Switzerland, heading in a corner to seal a 2:0 win against the Moldova national football team.

Personal life

According to Manchester City teammate Micah Richards, Gelson Fernandes is fluent in five languages. The five languages are: English language, French language, German language, Spanish language and Italian language. Although these are the most widely known languages that Fernandes speaks, it is also known that Gelson Fernandes can speak Portuguese language due to it being the official language of Gelson Fernandes birthplace, Cape Verde. Gelson Fernandes is the cousin of Valencia CF midfielder Manuel Fernandes.

Honours

- Swiss Cup: 2006