Jorge Leitão

Infobox Football biography
playername = Jorge Leitão


fullname = Jorge Manuel Vasconcelos Leitão
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|1|14
cityofbirth = Vila Nova de Gaia
countryofbirth = Portugal
height = height|ft=5|in=11
position = Striker
currentclub = C.D. Feirense
clubnumber = 27
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1999-2000
2000-2006
2006-2007
2007-
clubs = C.D. Feirense
Walsall
Beira-Mar
C.D. Feirense
caps(goals) = 00? (?)
190 (40)
00? (?)
00? (?)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Jorge Manuel Vasconcelos Leitão (born 14 January, 1974 in Vila Nova de Gaia) is a Portuguese football player, playing for C.D. Feirense.

Leitão moved to English football in July 2000 when Walsall paid Feirense £150,000 after three impressive trial games.

During the course of his first season with Walsall, the club won promotion to the Second Division via an entertaining victory over Reading in the league's Play-off final. Coupled with this team success was personal success for Leitão, who finished the season as Walsall's top goalscorer, and was named in the Division Two Player's Team of the Year.

Though the transition to the First Division was a slow one for Leitão, his 2001-02 season was transformed after the sacking of Ray Graydon, and in the club's first game under the management of Colin Lee, Leitão scored a brace at Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup Fourth Round. The new management acted to spur Walsall forward towards avoiding relegation, and Leitão scored the goal that saved Walsall from the drop at Sheffield United in April 2002.

The following season proved to be Walsall's most successful in the league since the 1950s, as the arrival of Brazilian striker Junior created a Portuguese speaking front-line which scored 30 goals during the course of the season, and kept Australian international striker David Zdrilic on the substitutes bench. However, the loss of Junior at the end of the 2002-03 season to rivals Derby County cut much of the edge from Walsall's attacking options for the 2003-04 campaign, which Leitão started alongside England International Paul Merson. Relegation followed, however.

In December 2005, Leitão announced that he had signed a pre-contract deal with Beira-Mar in his Portuguese homeland, citing homesickness as a factor in his sudden departure from English football. Though the contract did not come in to effect until June 2006, Walsall manager Paul Merson and Chairman Jeff Bonser offered to release Leitão early in recognition of the dedication he had given to the club in his 5 and a half years of service. His final game ended with some anti-climax, after a groin strain during a heavy 3-0 defeat at Bristol City. However, during his final home game, on New Year's Eve versus Blackpool, Leitão was treated to a near half-hour rendition of his name by an emotional Walsall home crowd. With over 15 minutes of the game remaining Leitão had been reduced to tears as his every touch was cheered, and upon the final whistle he embarked on an equally emotional lap of honour before leaving the field through a guard of honour by some Walsall players.

External links

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