Tiago Carvalho Santos (born 23 July 2002) is a Portuguese professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...
club
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
.
Club career
Estoril
Santos spent the majority of his youth career in the academy of
Sporting CP
Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,
, with stints at the academies of Oeiras, Sacavenense, and moving to the U23 side of
Estoril
Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...
in 2021. On 9 July 2022, he was promoted to Estoril's senior side for the 2022–23 season.
Santos made his professional and
Primeira Liga
The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...
debut as a starter in a 2–2 draw with Rio Ave on 19 August 2022, in which he assisted the opening goal of the match. He received the Young Player of the Month award in Primeira Liga for April 2023. Santos finished the 2022–23 season with 5 assists in 30 league appearances for Estoril.
During the summer 2023
transfer window
In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...
, Santos attracted interest from Benfica, who had an offer in the region of €5 million accepted by Estoril for the right-back. However, Sporting CP invoked an "anti- rival" clause inserted into Santos' contract when he joined Estoril, which stated that the ''Lions'' were owed €20 million if the player was sold to Benfica or
Porto
Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
; for that reason, the move collapsed.
Lille
On 5 July 2023, Santos signed a five-year contract with
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...
club
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
, who paid €6.5 million for the right-back.
He made his debut for ''Les Dogues'' on 11 August, starting in a 1–1 draw away at
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million2023–24 Ligue 1's opening match. Thirteen days later, Santos made his debut in European competitions, starting in a 2–1 home victory over
HNK Rijeka
Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka.
HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...
UEFA Europa Conference League
The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...
. On 26 November 2023, Santos scored his first professional goal, from outside the
penalty box
The penalty box or sin bin (sometimes called the bad box, or simply bin or box) is the area in ice hockey, rugby union, rugby league, roller derby and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offence not ...
, in a 2–0 league victory away at
Olympique Lyonnais
Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...
.
International career
Born in Portugal, Santos is of Angolan descent through his father. He made his international debut for the Portugal U21s on 8 September 2023, starting in a 3–0 home victory over
Andorra
Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...