Luís Boa Morte

Luís Boa Morte, Pronunciation August 4 1977) is a Portugal football (soccer), currently playing for West Ham United F.C., an England club in the FA Premier League.

He mainly plays as an attacking wide forward although he has played as a conventional striker in the past. His trickery and abundance of skills makes him a lethal attacking midfielder, and makes him one of West Ham's most prized assets. Amongst fans, he is principally known as 'Boa', 'The Bouncy Kangaroo' and the 'The Dead Snake', (due to the general mistake of translating his surname into English) . His surname in fact in Portuguese language means good death .

Club career

Sporting C.P

He started his professional career in August 1996 with Sporting Clube de Portugal, spending time on loan to junior club .

Arsenal

Boa Morte made his debut in English football for Arsenal F.C. when he became one of Arsène Wenger's first signings for the club, joining on a fee of £1.75 million.

He made his debut on 23 August 1997 as a substitute at Southampton F.C.. During Arsenal's double winning 1997-98 season he made 15 league appearances, mostly as substitute and 4 in the FA cup, although he did not appear in the FA Cup Final 1998 itself.

The following season he was a fairly regular squad member, usually as substitute in the early part of the season, with a few European Cup appearances, including against Panathinaikos on 9 December 1998, when he scored Arsenal's third goal. His final appearance for Arsenal was as a second half substitute away to Sunderland A.F.C. on 14 August 1999.

Southampton

After failing to break into Arsenal's first-team on a regular basis, in August 1999 Boa Morte was signed for Southampton F.C. by Dave Jones for a fee of around £500,000 with further payments to be based on appearances.

In only his second appearance for Southampton, away to Middlesbrough F.C. on 11 September 1999, he was sent off for handling the ball in the goalmouth in the 77th minute, with Paul Gascoigne scoring the resultant penalty as 'Boro went on to win 3-2.

In January 2000, Dave Jones was replaced as manager by Glenn Hoddle, who dropped Boa Morte from the team. After Hoddle's appointment, Boa Morte only made 3 further appearances and in July 2000, he had a trial at Fulham F.C. following which he moved to Craven Cottage, initially on a season long loan. As a result the first instalment on the fee due to Arsenal was never paid.

In his season at The Dell (Southampton F.C.), he made a total of 17 appearances, mostly as substitute, with 1 goal, a thundering left foot drive at Watford F.C. in a 2-3 defeat on 28 December 1999.

Fulham

In his first season at Fulham, he helped Jean Tigana win the 2000-01 Football League Championship making 39 league appearances, scoring 18 goals as Fulham ran away with the Championship with a total of 101 points.

His superb form and contributions to the Championship winning season, resulted in him being signed permanently in June 2001 (on a fee of £1.7 million paid to Arsenal), despite Southampton's attempts to bring him back after the expiry of the loan arrangement.

In Fulham's first 2 seasons in the Premiership he was not able to replicate his superb form of the Championship winning season, scoring only 3 goals, although his form returned to some extent in 2003-04, since when he has averaged 8 goals per season.

In August 2005 he was chased strongly by Newcastle United F.C. but pledged his future to Fulham and was made team captain. His crowning moment in a Fulham shirt was when he scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Chelsea F.C. in the West London derby on 19 March 2006 at Craven Cottage.

He became a favourite amongst Fulham F.C.'s supporters whilst he played for them, for his impassioned, never-say-die and sometimes aggressive style of play - although this has led to problems with referees.

West Ham United

Boa Morte signed for West Ham United F.C. in January 2007 on a three and a half year contract for an undisclosed fee, which is believed to be around £5 million.

He played his first game for the Hammers in an FA Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., setting up two goals and on January 13 2007 in the Premier League against former team Fulham F.C.. On April 28 2007 he scored his first goal for the club in a 0-3 win against Wigan Athletic F.C. at the JJB Stadium.

International career

Due to a number of impressive performances for Fulham, Boa Morte was called up to the Portugal national football team, winning his first full cap in June 2001 against Republic of Ireland national football team.

Despite an impressive season at club level, Boa Morte was disappointed to be left out of his country’s squad for the 2004 European Championships on home soil. However, the winger was part of Portugal’s 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign in Germany, playing in the 2-1 victory over Mexico national football team on 21 June 2006.

Boa Morte currently has 25 caps and 2 goals for Portugal.

Honours

Arsenal F.C.

- FA Premier League Champions 1997-98 in English football
- FA Cup Winners FA Cup Final 1998

Fulham F.C.

- Football League Championship Champions 2000-01 in English football