Port Vale one hit wonders: number four Francisco Junior
In this series we look back at players who only made a solitary appearance for the Valiants. This week we look at midfielder Francisco Junior.
Junior in numbers…
Signed on loan from Premier League side Everton, the l0anee had a luckless spell at Vale Park.
The young Portuguese midfielder joined on loan in March 2015 in a deal until the end of the season. With seven games remaining, the player could have expected to pick up some valuable game time at the Valiants, but he didn’t even complete a full 90 minutes for the club.
The youngster went straight into the Valiants starting XI for the away game against Leyton Orient in March 2015 and enjoyed a good start as Vale took the lead through Chris Birchall. However, when goalkeeper Chris Neal committed a professional foul, it was Junior who was brought out to enable sub goalie Sam Johnson to come on. He had played just 54 minutes of what ended as a Vale defeat.
However, despite that game, the Everton player had done OK and could be expected to challenge again. But Junior picked up an injury which ruled him out for the rest of his loan spell and he never appeared for the Valiants again.
Since that 2014-15 season, Junior has had a spell with Wigan Athletic before spells in Norway and Denmark. He is currently on the books of Israeli side Hapoel Haifa.