Fabio

Fluminense

Fabio began his football career as a defensive midfielder with his local club, Boa Esperança, but he was converted to left back when he joined Fluminense. With Fluminense, Fabio took part in the 2005 Nike Premier Cup in Hong Kong, where he was spotted by Manchester United scout Les Kershaw, who remarked that the twins reminded him of "two little whippets". Kershaw then telephoned Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and recommended that the club sign the Da Silva twins. Manchester United got in touch with Fluminense and asked permission for the twins to travel to Manchester to train with them in 2005. Shortly afterwards, a scout claiming to represent Arsenal visited the twins and asked them to come to England to train with Arsenal without the permission of Fluminense. However, they were dissuaded from this by their mother, who reminded them that they had been with Fluminense since they were 11, and that they should show the club some loyalty. Therefore, they decided to sign for Manchester United over Arsenal, and the two clubs agreed a deal in February 2007. The twins moved to Manchester in January 2008 without ever having played for the Fluminense first team.

Manchester United

Despite signing for the club in February 2007, Fabio was unable to be registered as a Manchester United player or play in matches for the club until his 18th birthday on 9 July 2008. He made his first appearance for Manchester United on 4 August 2008, coming on as…

Brazil under-17

Fabio has played internationally for the Brazilian national under-17 team, and was captain of the Brazil team for the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where he scored twice, making him the team's joint-highest scorer. Despite being a defender, he scored a total of 10 goals in his 13 appearances.

Brazil senior squad

In September 2011, after a spell of good form with Manchester United, Fabio was rewarded with a place in the Brazil senior squad for the matches against Costa Rica and Mexico on 7 and 11 October 2011 respectively.

Along with his brother Rafael, Fabio has been praised for his energetic style, and has been described as an "excellent footballer" by his former manager at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson. Les Kershaw, the former Manchester United academy manager who spotted them, described the pair as being like "two little whippets", praising how "when they got knocked down, they just got straight back up again and got on with it. They were like bouncing balls... very, very quick". The Times has called them "Brazil's answer to the Neville brothers", in reference to defenders Gary and Phil Neville. Based on his attacking ability and instincts, it was suggested on the United website that Fabio, along with Rafael, could be deployed in the midfield rather than in defence.

Fabio was born in Petrópolis, approximately one hour's drive from Rio de Janeiro in Rio de Janeiro state, and began playing football from age five. He and his identical twin Rafael would play five-a-side in the city. They were then spotted by a representative of Fluminense, who gave them the opportunity to play for the club; they went to live at the club's training centre at Xerém when they were just 11 years old.