Ajax Football Club signs Portuguese player Carlos Borges until 2028
Aug 04, 2023
Amsterdam [Netherland], August 4 : Dutch football club Ajax signed Carlos Borges from Manchester City on a five-year deal on Friday.
According to the website of Ajax Football Club, "Ajax, Manchester City FC and Carlos Borges have reached an agreement on the transfer of the winger to Ajax. The Portuguese, who shall play using the name Forbs, signs a contract in Amsterdam that runs until June 30, 2028. Ajax will pay a transfer fee of 14 million euros to Manchester City. This amount can increase to a maximum of 19 million euros through variables."
Borges has been playing in the youth academy of the English club since 2014 and played for the U21 team last season. With that team, he won the championship in Premier League 2, he became the top scorer of the competition and was crowned the best player of the competition at the end of the season.
The Portuguese youth international was born on March 19, 2004, in Sintra, Portugal. The player’s contract at the English champion ran until 2026.
He started playing football at NADC Sintra, a local football club in his hometown. At the age of nine, he was picked up by Sporting Lisbon. After one season in a Portuguese youth academy, Forbs left for England as a ten-year-old: Manchester City. There, he went through all the youth teams and could rely on excellent statistics. In 2021, he was voted the best U18 player in Manchester City's youth academy.
In the past season, he scored 29 goals and provided eighteen assists in 33 matches for Manchester City's U21 team. With this, he secured the championship, the top scorer title, and Borges was named the best player in the Premier League 2, the competition for U21 teams of English clubs.
Forbs also made an impact on the European stage. At the age of seventeen, he made his debut in the UEFA Youth League against RB Leipzig. As a substitute, he became the matchwinner by scoring the only goal of the match just before the final whistle. In the 2022/2023 Youth League season, he opened with a hat-trick in the 5-1 victory against Sevilla.
Despite his Guinean-Bissauan roots, Forbs played in the national youth teams of Portugal. He played a total of 22 international matches for Portugal U16, U18, and U19 teams, scoring four times. In July of this year, Forbs participated in the U19 European Championship in Malta, where he reached the final with his team. Despite the loss to Italy, he was included in the UEFA Team of the Tournament.
