Ricardo Quaresma
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Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo, born 26 September 1983 in Lisbon, Portugal is a professional footballer, nicknamed "Ciganito" (little gipsy), "Harry Potter" and also "Mustang" by former coach Laszlo Bölöni.
A Sporting trainee, he debuted as a professional during the 2000-2001 season in the B side, playing 15 games. In the next season he was selected by Laszlo Bölöni to play in the main squad, where he played 28 matches, scored three goals and was a key player in Sporting's title.
During the 2002-2003 season he was Sporting's "lone star", the second player in total minutes (2216), played in 31 matches, and scoring in five occasions. The poor results during the season were partially attributed to Bölöni, who rarely played Cristiano Ronaldo and Quaresma at the same time.
Afterwards, he was sold to FC Barcelona for €6,000,000 (plus playing rights for Fabio Rochemback), but failed to make his mark with the Catalan side. Only starting ten times, he came off the bench eleven, scoring only one goal. In the final weeks of the season he injured his right foot badly, missing the UEFA U-21 Championship 2004 in Germany and the Euro 2004, although it is highly unlikely he would be called for the major tournament.
During the Euro 2004 he announced his refusal to play for Barcelona as long as Frank Rijkaard was in charge, and several teams began inquiring about the talented player. However, Sporting rivals FC Porto had an advantage: a tranfer for Deco was being negotiated, and Quaresma could be used as part of the transfer fee. At first uninterested in returning to Portugal, he changed his mind quickly and was presented as a Porto signing in 6 July. The value of his transfer was €6M.pt:Ricardo Quaresma