t a time when the 25th anniversary of what has become the main football league in the world is celebrated - the Premier League era officially started on August 15, 1992 - DN was looking for the first Portuguese to be part of a squad of the main English championship since that name. Calita? For most people, let's admit it, this is the reaction when faced with the name of the first Portuguese player hired by a Premier League club.
It was 1995, the English league was going to enter the fourth season with this designation, and Farense pocketed £ 150,000 with the transfer of his then young midfielder to Coventry. The season at Faro Lions had been fantastic - the best ever, with Paco Fortes, a 5th place worth a European ticket - and Carlos Alberto Batista, our Calita, found himself, from one moment to the next, pack your bags, full of "ambition, desire and a lot of strength".
Interestingly, the initial destination was not Coventry, but Blackburn, then the English champion, coached by Kenny Dalglish. The Portuguese even liked the tests, he was going to sign, but the proposal, after all, was not even similar to the one announced. "It was a shock," says Calita. The businessman, however, amended the situation and opened the doors of Coventry to him, where he stayed for a time, alongside famous people: coach Ron Atkinson and players like Peter Shilton, Gordon Strachan, Gillespie and another player hired in Portuguese football; the Brazilian Isaías.
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"We arrived at the same time and he was always with him. We had translators, but that was not easy, and, on top of that, they could only play three foreigners simultaneously", says Calita, remembering that Isaías was "a big name", in special after that unforgettable performance by Benfica against Arsenal, but even so, "it was necessary to fit" in a very different type of football than the one they were used to. "I did my part, although today I recognize that I was not mature enough to face that reality. And I earned much less than the money that was proposed to me", he continues, justifying the little use - he was at the International Tournament of Porto, a quadrangular with FC Porto, V. Guimarães and Deportivo da Coruña, and, afterwards, he always played for Coventry's secondary team.
For the English, it was being "Carlita", a nickname for the nickname he already had, which the attacking midfielder welcomed, especially since fans only have fond memories. "The fans are fanatics, you know, but it's not just them. I remember one time, I was in the city just a short time ago, when I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I got lost and I couldn't find my way back. I asked two policemen for help, who volunteered to take me to the residence where I was staying, and when they heard that I was "Carlita", the new reinforcement, they even asked me for autographs ". At the time, he was 22 years old, almost all of them lived in the Algarve - he was born in Angola and arrived in Albufeira as a child.
"I knew I was one of the first Portuguese to go to the Premier League, but soon the first ...", he comments, recognizing, once again, that he had "little head" to build a career in England. "I lacked mental strength. I was young and I had breakdowns. Today, I did everything differently, starting with the requirement of the combined contract. I would trust less in certain people, it is also true, but one thing I am sure of: nobody takes this experience from me. of life! ", he assumes, telling a new episode of his experience at Conventry. "For Isaiah it was not easy either. They demanded that he go to the line to cross over to the head of the big guy who was in the area and asked him to make carts in the middle of the field," shoots Calita,
After Coventry he returned to Portugal and headed for Boavista, where Manuel José was the coach. A fleeting passage, preceding his stay in Madeira, at the service of Nacional, who had just ascended to Honor and who had, among others, Costinha and Fernando Aguiar. "I was there five months and I didn't adapt. It was another mistake in my career, not least because the club was growing a lot, but what I really wanted was to return to the Algarve". No sooner said than done. Calita then began an extensive tour of the Algarve emblems, from Louletano to Lusitano in Vila Real de Santo António, Messinense, Imortal and Guia, among others. Last season, despite his 44 years, he also played for Santaclarense, from Santa Clara to Velha, emblem of the District of Beja. And all of this without letting go of the other passion of his life: futevolei.
"I have been playing futevolei for about twenty years. At first, it was only on vacation, at Praia dos Pescadores, with the guys of eleven football, but the bug stayed." Whenever employment in the Albufeira Town Hall allows, Calita partners with his cousin, Miguel Pita, and participates in tournaments and circuits around the country, with some good results and victories. "Now, I want to recover from a knee injury to continue playing. I feel good and I'm not going to stop yet."
