José Carlos Natário Ferreira

When Zé Carlos signed for Gil Vicente on 23 July 2025, he did not leave Vitória de Guimarães behind entirely. The fee was undisclosed, but Vitória retained 50% of the player's economic rights.

That arrangement traces back to May 2023. Vitória had taken José Carlos Natário Ferreira on loan from Varzim on 26 August 2022, and then triggered the purchase option: €400,000 for half his economic rights, paid in three instalments of €200,000, €100,000 and €100,000.

Before any of that, there was Varzim. The right-footed player from Matosinhos made his professional debut there in the 2021/22 season, in Liga Portugal 2.

His fullest season in Guimarães was 2023/24, when he played 23 league matches. The following January the club sent him out again, this time on loan to Farense until the end of the 2024/25 campaign. He returned to Vitória that summer, and within weeks the move to Gil Vicente was done.

Between 2022 and 2023 he was called up by Portugal's under-21 side, winning 10 caps without scoring. He has not played for the senior national team.

There are no trophies on the record, and no individual awards. Nor is there anything much in the way of disruption: no significant injuries, no transfer that turned acrimonious.