Silvério Júnio Gonçalves da Silva

What stands out in the career of Silvério Júnio Gonçalves da Silva is not a transfer fee or a title, but a route that took a player trained at Rio Ave through half a dozen clubs on free transfers, ending up, for a spell, on the other side of the world. Formed in Rio Ave's academy from 2007, he signed his first professional contract in 2014, but the first-team shirt proved elusive: across the following seasons he was farmed out on loan to Famalicão, Leixões and Varzim.

He left Rio Ave as a free agent in 2019 for Académica de Coimbra, then moved on the same terms to Penafiel in 2021, spending two seasons there before a more unusual step: in 2023 he signed, again without a fee, for Borneo FC Samarinda in Indonesia.

He returned to Portugal in 2024, joining Lusitânia Lourosa. Silvério Silva has never been capped by Portugal at any level, and his file carries none of the scandal or injury drama that often colours a defender's biography — just a run of free transfers and a late highlight halfway across the globe.