João Moutinho

João Moutinho is a midfielder of Monaco. He was born on 8 September 1986 in Portimão, Portugal.

In 1994 João joined the Portimonense youth system where he spent five years. During this period he managed to become the academy´s best footballer which allowed him to continue his football education at the academy of the Sporting Clube de Portugal since 1999. From 1999 to 2005 Moutinho trained hard with youth teams of his age and gradually prepared to start his professional career.

In the summer 2005 João penned his first contract with Sporting. In the debut 2005/2006 season he made several appearances. After delivering solid performance Moutinho became a regular in the starting line-up until 2010. During this time the Portuguese midfielder featured in 163 games, scoring 21 goals for Sporting.

At the end of 2010 Porto entered into the final stage of negotiations for Moutinho’s transfer. In the summer 2010 João signed a contract with Porto that tied him to the club until 2015. Sporting got €11 million for its best footballer and the product of its youth system. Moutinho took part in a pre-season training with the Porto main team and then-coach André Villas-Boas settled upon his plan for the footballer’s future. In the 2010/2011 season João made many appearances in the starting eleven, helping his team to play successfully both in the Portugal Primeira Liga and in the Europa League. That season did a lot of good to Porto because the team won the Europa League trophy and became the national champion.

Later on the midfielder was linked with a move to England but preferred a French side Monaco in May 2013 after the club had got serious investment from a Russian tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev.

From 2005 to 2007 João Moutinho took part in 15 games and netted twice for the Portugal U-21 national team. Since 2005 he has been capped more than 40 times for the Portugal national football team and has scored 2 goals.