Fabio

Fabio Pereira da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈfabju peˈɾejɾɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ]; born 9 July 1990), commonly known as Fabio or Fabio da Silva, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for French club Nantes.

Fabio and his twin brother Rafael began their careers with Fluminense in their native Brazil before being signed by English club Manchester United in February 2007. Unlike his brother, Fabio struggled to hold down a place in the Manchester United first team, and after a loan spell with Queens Park Rangers in 2012–13, he made a permanent move to Cardiff City in January 2014.

Fabio has played for Brazil twice at senior international level, both appearances coming in 2011, the same year he played for Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League Final against Barcelona.

Club Career

Fluminense

Fabio began his football career as a defensive midfielder with his local club, Boa Esperanca, but he was converted to left back when he joined Fluminense. With Fluminense, Fabio took part in the 2005 Nike Premier Cup in Hong Kong, where he was spotted by Manchester United scout Les Kershaw, who remarked that the twins reminded him of "two little whippets". Kershaw then telephoned Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and recommended that the club sign the Da Silva twins. Manchester United got in touch with Fluminense and asked permission for the twins to travel to Manchester to train with them in 2005. Shortly afterwards, a scout claiming to represent Arsenal visited the twins and asked them to come to England to train with Arsenal without the permission of Fluminense. However, they were dissuaded from this by their mother, who reminded them that they had been with Fluminense since they were 11, and that they should show the club some loyalty. Therefore, they decided to sign for Manchester United over Arsenal, and the two clubs agreed a deal in February 2007. The twins moved to Manchester in January 2008 without ever having played for the Fluminense

This page also has a version in other languages :  Фабио (russian)