Luís Boa Morte

Luís Boa Morte was a midfielder/forward for Fulham from 2000 until 2007, and is currently the first team coach. He was usually used in a wider role on the left side, and occasionally as a support striker. Initially signed on a season-long loan from Southampton, he enjoyed a fantastic season in 2000-01 helping Fulham get promoted to the Premier League. Following a reported plea from Boa Morte to the then manager Jean Tigana to get signed permanently, Fulham had a £2 million offer accepted by Southampton with proceeds going to former club Arsenal, with Boa Morte joining the club shortly after. He enjoyed his successful years at Craven Cottage, but never quite reached the same level whilst playing for West Ham United.

Before Fulham
Boa Morte started out at Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon at the age of 16 in 1994 after being scouted playing for his local team, and signed professional terms with them at the beginning of the 1996-97 season at the age of 18. He was then sent out on loan to feeder club Lourinhanense for the season.

His big break, however, came when he caught the eye of Premier League giants Arsenal who signed him on 14 June 1997 for £1.75 million, making him one of Arsène Wenger's first signings for the club. Having made sporadic appearances for Arsenal, usually as a substitute, it soon became clear that Boa Morte was not a long-term first team player, and 2 years later in 1999, he was sold to Southampton for the rather small fee of just £500,000 plus incentives.

Whilst starting the 1999-00 season in Southampton's first team, when manager Dave Jones got replaced by Glenn Hoddle, he found appearances hard to come by, and during the second half of the season only played for them on three occasions.

Fulham (2000-2007)
In July 2000, the out-of-favour Boa Morte was signed on a season-long loan to Fulham, considered a great capture alongside new signings Louis Saha and Scottish international John Collins. This was to be one of Fulham's most successful seasons in their history, with Boa Morte playing a massive contribution to their promotion back to the top flight, with 39 appearances and 8 goals for the cottagers.

As soon as the season was over and therefore the loan, it was reported that Boa Morte was pleaing to manager Jean Tigana to sign him up on a permanent deal after his successful and enjoyable time at Fulham. Eventually he was signed for a deal of around £2 million in June 2001, with former club Arsenal getting payed incentives due to a clause in the contract. His return to playing in the Premier League was certainly not as comfortable as his previous season playing in the First Division as he only managed 1 league goal, however he was an important player in the team and was certainly a fan favourite.

The 2002-03 season, in which Fulham had qualified for the UEFA Cup, was where Boa Morte shone once more as he enjoyed a relatively successful cup run; of note was his 90th minute winner in the 2-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb in the second leg, having also scored in the first leg.

In the following season, his goalscoring form return as he bagged a total of 10 goals in all competitions for Fulham, and this is generally where he bagan to find his feet in the Premier League. This step up in form from Boa Morte is what brought him many more international caps for Portugal, and he was also rewarded at the end of the 2004-05 season with Fulham's Player of the Season award. By this time he had gained the nickname Dead Snake, as a joking mistranslation of his surname.

Following 2004-05, he was a transfer target of Newcastle United but he pledged his future to Fulham, signing a two-year extension on his contract which already had three years left on it, meaning he was signed until the summer of 2010. He was then shortly after made team captain for the 2005-06 season, where he arguably made his Fulham crowning moment in scoring the solitary goal in a rare 1-0 victory over rivals Chelsea in the west London derby.

It was half-way through the 2006-07 season that Boa Morte moved to fellow Londoners West Ham United, for a fee thought to be around £5 million on 5 January 2007.

After Fulham
Boa Morte played for West Ham for four and a half years, however he failed to reach the form and success that he achieved at Fulham; this is generally believed that it was due to him being played out of his position played at Fulham and therefore playing a different role for them. He was a mainstay though, and made nearly 100 league appearances for the hammers. It was whilst playing with West Ham in the build up to the 2009-10 season that he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which kept him out for nearly the entire season.

Halfway through a two-year deal with West Ham, Boa Morte and the club had his contract mutually terminated, and in August 2011 he moved onto Greek club Larissa where he signed a two-year deal with them. Originally signed by the club to help them return to top flight football, he had to leave just six months into his stay due to financial problems that Larissa had.

Another short spell at Orlando Pirates in South Africa and an unsuccessful trial for Toronto in Unites States followed.

It was reported in September 2012 that he had been training with Fulham's U21 squad and first team for two weeks in a bid to return to match fitness. The following month, he signed for Chesterfield on a short-term contract and played 12 league matches before departing in January 2013. During pre-season in 2013, Luis returned to Motspur Park to train once again with the Under-21 squad and to complete his coaching badges. During this time, he came on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly against Sutton United, and travelled with the U21's on their pre-season tour to Portugal, becoming a coach for the U21 squad for the season.

In July 2021, he returned to Fulham as first team coach when Marco Silva was appointed as the head coach.

Fulham Matches
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