Player profile

Tall, powerful, good in the air and blessed with physical strength, Almeida is hardly your archetypal Portuguese centre forward.

At 6ft 3in he has all the attributes needed to succeed in the Premier League and there was no surprise when he was heavily linked to Everton in January last year.

He said: “It would be a dream for me to play in England. I am open to offers and am happy that Everton are interested in my services. I have spoken on the telephone with Nuno Valente to find out things about the club.”

The move never materialised but Almeida has continued to impress in the Bundesliga, helping Werder Bremen to qualify for the Champions League.

He was spotted by Porto in 2003, but never established himself and was farmed out on loan to Uniao de Leiria and Boavista.

Back at Porto he grabbed the headlines by scoring a sensational 40-yard free-kick at the San Siro, but it was not enough to keep him at the club and he was shipped off to Germany, initially on loan.

The naturalisation of Liedson, added to Queiroz’s preference for a solitary striker, has seen his influence for Portugal diminish towards the back end of qualification for South Africa.

Although he has scored goals at international level, none of them have so far come against top-class opposition as his strikes have been against Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania, China, Liechtenstein and Malta.

When he first joined Werder Bremen, fans dubbed him The Joker due to the impact he made as a wildcard supersub.