Nenê (footballer, born 1981)

Brazilian footballer

Anderson Luiz de Carvalho (born 19 July 1981), known as Nenê, is a Brazilian professional footballer who currently plays for Série A club Juventude. An attacking midfielder, he is mostly known for his crossing and dribbling ability, also being a free kick specialist. Nenê played most of his professional career in Spain, representing four clubs and amassing La Liga totals of 140 games and 23 goals over the course of four seasons, and France, where he appeared with Monaco and Paris Saint Germain for 142 Ligue 1 matches in four and a half campaigns (55 goals). Nenê won the 2012–13 Ligue 1 title with PSG, also being chosen the league's best foreign player in 2010 while with Monaco. He also spent three months in England, with West Ham United.

Born in Jundiaí, São Paulo, Nenê started playing professionally with local Etti Jundiaí at the age of 19. On 16 May 2002 he moved to Palmeiras, on loan until December. Nenê made his Série A debut on 11 August 2002, starting and scoring the first in a 1–1 home draw against Grêmio. He finished the year with five league goals, but his club suffered relegation for the first time in its history. On 27 January 2003, Nenê signed for Santos still in the top division. Mainly a backup option to Robinho and Ricardo Oliveira, he still scored three goals during the team's Copa Libertadores run, and also appeared in both legs of the finals as a substitute.

In 2003–04, Nenê moved to Spain, first with RCD Mallorca – making his La Liga debut on 14 September 2003 in a 0–4 away loss against Athletic Bilbao– and then Deportivo Alavés. With the Basque side he put up two extraordinary individual seasons, with 21 goals in the league alone, playing his first year in the second division and achieving promotion. After being relegated from the top level with Alavés in 2006, Nenê met the same fate with RC Celta de Vigo, again appearing in all 38 league games and totalling nearly 3,000 minutes of action for the Galicians.

On 22 August 2007, Nenê was transferred to AS Monaco FC for an undisclosed fee. A year later, having already started with the French, he joined RCD Espanyol in the last days of the summer transfer window on a one year loan, with a buying option for the Catalans at the season's end, which was finally not activated. Back with Monaco, Nenê began the new campaign in impressive scoring fashion, scoring nine goals in his first ten matches – this included a brace against US Boulogne in a 3–1 away victory, both from long range free kicks, as he led the scoring charts for a lengthy period of time.

On 11 July 2010, Nenê joined Paris Saint Germain in a deal believed to be around €5.5 million. "I'm very happy to have signed for Paris," the player told PSG's official website, adding: "Like PSG, I'm hoping to have a big league season and to pull something off in the Europa League". He scored in his first official appearance, a 3–1 home win against AS Saint Étienne, adding two on 11 September against newly promoted AC Arles Avignon (4–0, home). Halfway through the season he had already registered 13 goals, making him the third highest scorer only behind Moussa Sow and Kevin Gameiro; his displays, free kick ability and attacking flair earned him comparisons with Ronaldinho, a compatriot who played at the Parc des Princes earlier in the decade, but he only scored one more goal until the end of the campaign, with PSG finally finishing fourth. In the summer of 2011, Paris Saint Germain were purchased by Qatari investors and bought several new players, including Jérémy Menez with whom Nenê had played at Monaco. The Brazilian began the season hesitantly, struggling to accept that he had lost his star status in the team with the arrival of Javier Pastore. On 29 October, however, he scored two goals (both penalties) in a 4–2 home win against Stade Malherbe Caen, putting his team three points clear at the top of the table. Nenê scored his first hat trick with PSG on 13 May 2012, netting all of the game's goals in the home fixture against Stade Rennais F. C. in only 18 minutes of play. He finished the campaign as the league's second top scorer, helping his side to the second place and direct qualification to the UEFA Champions League.

On 15 January 2013, after having appeared in 112 official matches with PSG (but only nine in the league in the first half of the season), Nenê moved to Al Gharafa SC in the Qatar Stars League. In March, he was suspended for nine games and fined €67,000 for fighting with Houssine Kharja, being eventually released in late January of the following year.

On 18 February 2015, free agent Nenê signed for West Ham United until the end of the campaign. He made his debut ten days later in a 1–3 home defeat by Crystal Palace by coming on as a 61st minute substitute for Alex Song, and was released at the end of the season following an unsuccessful stint at the Hammers.

On 26 January 2018, the 36 year old Nenê agreed to a two year contract with São Paulo. In an interview held the previous December, he claimed to have been a supporter of the club as a child. He scored his first goal for his new team on 7 February, in a 1–0 win over Bragantino for the Campeonato Paulista.

After being released, on 15 July 2019 Nenê joined Fluminense until the end of the 2020 season. In the first two months of that year, he scored seven goals across all competitions. After Fluminense, he played for Vasco and Juventude.

In October 2012, Nenê was named an ambassador in France for the game FIFA 13, alongside Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi. In 2010, he signed a deal with Adidas. Each year, Nenê organised with fellow footballer Neymar a charity match in his hometown of Jundiaí, with the purpose of raising money for food for families in need.