From Leeds United to wilderness to Vitória de Guimarães – Player’s nightmare could come to end

Helder Costa joined Leeds United in 2020, and fans hoped they’d see the exciting attacker produce the goods for the Whites.

Things gradually went wrong for the player and his time at the Whites became something of a complicated one. Loans to Valencia and Al-Ittihad did little to suggest he had a future at Elland Road and in October 2023 he left the club.

Leeds United and the 30-year-old decided that it would be best to part ways and the player’s contract was terminated via mutual consent. Since then, he’s been without a club, which probably wasn’t the plan he had in mind at the time.

That spell could be coming to an end, with a report from Portuguese newspaper Record stating Costa could be set to sign for Vitória de Guimarães. It would be a return to Portuguese football after more than eight years away, and Vitória are said to see it as a great business opportunity given he’s a free agent.

However, Costa is still waiting to see if any clubs outside of Portugal turn up for him. That obviously hasn’t happened since last October, and he may be best accepting the Vitória route.