African footballers in Europe: The return of Reinildo

Mozambique’s Reinildo has emerged as a major transfer target over the last weeks with Spanish side Atletico Madrid under siege for one f the prized assets as the 30-year-old’s recovery from a serious knee injury is now long complete.

The fullback is arguably the most successful export from southern Africa in years and reports in the British papers have both Aston Villa and Manchester United looking for his services while the Italian press are linking him with Juventus.

“He is very fast, aggressive but above all intelligent,” explains Luis Gonçalves, the former Mozambique national coach, about a player who also studied business management at university. “He is a team player, not a natural leader but one who is not afraid to take responsibility for his decisions.”

Reinildo made his comeback from a serious knee injury at the end of last year, in time to compete for Mozambique at the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

His comeback to LaLiga action came just before Christmas last year after he had suffered a cruciate ligament tear in the derby with Real Madrid in February 2023.

It meant an effective nine months out of action, one of many setbacks he has been able to overcome.

He comes from Beira with a family of four brothers and sisters. His father, who was a coach, died when he was 11. “It was a big shock for my family,” he said. “And succeeding became like a mission for me.”

Success first took the form of a professional contract with the Ferroviario Beira, where he earned the equivalent of R600 per month. Consecration came in 2015, with the signing of a five-year contract with the club of his dreams, Benfica. But it was accompanied by a new ordeal, this time with the death of his mother. “I will never forget the two words she said to me the last time I saw her, in the hospital. She hugged me, started crying and said, ‘Go ahead, son, go ahead’. Even today, her words resonate with me.”

At Benfica, Reinildo did not start immediately with the first team, training only occasionally, but in mid-2016 got a chance in the pre-season Algarve tournament, before getting injured. By the time he was back after five months out, his path to the team looked blocked and, at the start of 2017, he went out on loan time to Fafe for six months and Sporting Covilha for a year before a transfer in mid-2018 to Belenenses, where he finally got to play in the top flight of Portuguese football.

“You know, the Portuguese second division is very strong, it's very hard because there's a lot of speed and contact. It's stronger than the top division where you have more spaces.”

Lille signed him in January 2019, but he only played five minutes in four months, before his first start on the last day of the season.

It took a while for him to find his feet in France, an understudy at the club for some two years. But his breakthrough came in early 2021, with some titanic showings, notably against Olympique de Marseille and Paris St Germain, and very quickly he was being talked about as the best in his position in Ligue 1. Supporters hailed him as the new Roberto Carlos.

“The problem was just trust. From the moment he felt the confidence of the staff, of his colleagues, we started to see the change, and his level rose,” explained Lille’s then captain, the Portuguese international José Fonte.

Reinildo would go onto to become a key member of the side that shook up French football and won Ligue 1 in 2021.

His contract was due to expire the next season and negotiations had begun with Atletico Madrid, who in the end paid Lille 3-million euro so that they could have him six months earlier. It gave Reinildo the change to play in the latter stages of the 2022 Champions League where he was in the side that eliminated Manchester United but then lost to Manchester City in the quarterfinal.

Since he was been a regular feature in Spain, besides his long injury layoff, and now either the Premier League or Serie A awaits.