895 Ricardo Vaz Te

Biography

Portuguese forward Ricardo Vaz Te was signed by Phil Brown on a short term loan in March 2007 to add momentum to City’s climb up the table during the spring of 2007.  Vaz Te showed little interest in performing for the Tigers, nor for his former assistant boss at Bolton Wanderers, and after a shocking performance at Wolverhampton Wanderers Vaz Te was sent packing back to Lancashire in April 2007.

Ricardo Jorge Vaz Te was born in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, but spent his formative years in Guinea-Bissau, his father’s country of birth.  At eleven years of age he returned to Portugal and quickly joined the youth team setup at Algarve-based Portuguese top flight side SC Farense.

In July 2003 the sixteen year old Vaz Te switched to English Premier League side Bolton Wanderers, joining their academy system on a three year contract. His progress was rapid at Bolton, after sitting on the first team bench as an unused substitute as early as October 2003, he made his first team debut in an FA Cup tie against Tranmere Rovers in January 2004 – in April 2004 he made his Premier League debut against Middlesbrough. In December 2004 Ricardo made his first Premier League start against Manchester United and the following month he scored his first senior goal in an FA Cup tie against Oldham Athletic.

Vaz Te missed three months of football at the start of the 2005/06 season, when he returned from injury in November 2005 he scored in the UEFA Cup against Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes and became a regular presence in the first team squad, both starting matches and coming off the bench to influence proceedings – he scored his first Premier League goal in April 2006 against Charlton Athletic, the first of three goals in four late season top flight appearances. He remained a key part of the Bolton first team squad during the 2006/07 season but his goals had dried up, his short loan spell at Hull City during March and April 2007 was designed to kickstart his form in front of goal – an outcome that he failed to deliver. A serious knee injury suffered in August 2007 sidelined Ricardo for much of the 2007/08 season and he continued to struggle with knee problems during the subsequent 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons – in those three seasons he made just four senior appearances, taking his Bolton Wanderers tally to seven goals in 78 appearances.

In August 2010 Vaz Te left Bolton Wanderers after seven years with the club and joined Greek Super League side Panionios, a club based in the suburbs of Athens. He made his debut for the Greek side in August 2010 against Olympiakos Volos and scored his only goal for the club against Kavala in October 2010. He dropped out of the first team in November 2010 having scored one goal in 8 appearances. In February 2011 Ricardo returned to the United Kingdom when he signed for Edinburgh-based Scottish Premiership side Hibernian. His March 2011 debut against St Johnstone was followed by his first goal for the Hibees in April 2011 against Heart of Midlothian, ending the season with one goal in 10 appearances.

In August 2011 Vaz Te joined English Championship side Barnsley, he made his Tykes’ debut that month against Nottingham Forest and scored his first goal for the club against Burnley in October 2011. In December 2011 he scored a hattrick against Leeds United, the culmination of form that was attracting interest from other clubs. By January 2012 Ricardo had scored twelve goals for Barnsley in 24 appearances. In January 2012 he transferred to Championship promotion chasers West Ham United – he continued his fine form, netting a second hattrick of the season in April 2012 against Brighton & Hove Albion and ending the season with twelve goals as the Hammers beat Blackpool in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium thanks to Vaz Te’s 87th minute winner.

Ricardo celebrated his return to the Premier League with an opening day assist against Aston Villa, but found goals harder to come by for the Hammers, ending the 2012/13 season with three strikes. He started the 2013/14 season in good form, scoring four goals by October 2013 until arm and knee injuries sidelined him for the rest of the season. By January 2015 Vaz Te was a peripheral figure at West Ham, having scored nineteen goals in 61 appearances for the Hammers.

In January 2015 Ricardo was given a free transfer by West Ham and joined Turkish Super Lig side Akhisar Belediyespor on a short term contract. He scored five goals in 14 appearances for Akhisar but was released in July 2015. After four months without a club, in November 2015 he joined English Championship side Charlton Athletic on a short term deal, making 12 appearances before returning again to Akhisar Belediyespor in February 2016. During the 2016/17 season Vaz Te found a rich seam of form and netted 25 goals for Akhisar including two hattricks against Bursaspor in the group phase of the Turkish Cup – by the end of the 2016/17 season Ricardo had added 26 goals for Akhisar Belediyespor in 56 appearances.

In July 2017 Vaz Te joined Chinese Super League side Hinan Jianye, he made his August 2017 debut against Guangzhou Evergrande and during the remainder of the 2017 season he maintained the form he found in Turkiye, scoring five goals in just five appearances. He netted another eleven goals in the 2018 season, taking his tally for Hinan to sixteen goals in 26 appearances. In February 2019 he switched to Chinese League One side Qingdao Huanghai, where he scored five goals in 14 appearances during the 2019 season.

Having returned to Europe during the COVID19 pandemic, Vaz Te joined Portuguese Primeira League side Portimonense in July 2020, but he managed only 10 appearances during the 2020/21 season before the persistent knee injury that dogged him for much of his career caused him to hang up his boots in the 2021 close season.

Vaz Te was part of Portugal’s international setup throughout the formative years of his career. In March 2003 he made the first of 2 appearances for the Under-17s side, a year he made 2 appearances for the Under-18 side. He made six appearances for Portugal’s Under-19 side during the 2004/05 season and scored four goals, then in the 2005/06 season he scored five goals in 8 appearances that included a hattrick against South Korea in the Toulon tournament. In February 2006 he made his debut for the Portugal Under-21 side against Italy and remained part of the squad for two and a half years – he scored four Under-21 goals against Serbia (November 2006), Slovakia (March 2007), Israel (June 2007) and Ireland in September 2008, the last of his 18 appearances. He was called up to Portugal’s Under-23 squad in March 2010, scoring two goals against a Wales Semi-Pro eleven, but never won a senior international cap.

Details

Nationality: Portugal
Date/Place of Birth: 1 October 1986, Lisbon (Portugal)
Hull City First Game: 10 March 2007, Preston North End H (Championship), 20 years, 160 days old
Hull City Final Game: 9 April 2007, Wolverhampton Wanderers A (Championship), 20 years, 190 days old

Clubs

Bolton Wanderers (2003-2010), Hull City (2007, loan), Panionios (2010-2011), Hibernian (2011), Barnsley (2011-2012), West Ham United (2012-2015), Akhisar Belediyespor (2015), Charlton Athletic (2015-2016), Akhisar Belediyespor (2016-2017), Henan Jianye (2017-2019), Qingdao Huanghai (2019-2020), Portimonense (2020-2021)

Hull City Record

Career: 6 apps, 0 goals