Although a serious knee injury suffered in the July 2009 trip to Beijing for the Barclays Asia Trophy threatened his involvement in the 2009/10 campaign, Luis Boa Morte remains an important player at West Ham United.

Hugely popular with team-mates as a committed, whole-hearted performer, he has never wanted for effort since joining the Hammers from Fulham in early January 2007.

A Portuguese international, Boa Morte began his career at Sporting Clube de Portugal - in the city of his birth, Lisbon - before spending a short period on loan at SC Lourinhanense. It was in the summer of 1997 that his big break arrived, however, when Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger spotted the 19-year-old during the prestigious Toulon Under-21 tournament in France.

Boa Morte joined Arsenal for £1.75m, making 15 appearances as they lifted the Barclays Premier League title at the end of his first season in London, 1997/98. The speedy winger spent one further year at Highbury before making the switch to Southampton in August 1999. He had made a total of 40 appearances and scored four goals for the Gunners.

On the south coast the departure of the manager who had signed him, Dave Jones, meant the Portuguese again found his opportunities limited. After a single goal and 17 appearances for the Saints, Boa Morte moved back to London, joining Championship side Fulham on loan in July 2000.

The 2000/01 campaign was a hugely successful one for Boa Morte. He scored 21 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions as Jean Tigana's team romped to the Championship title. Back in the top-flight, the loan star joined the Cottagers permanently for £1.7m.

Boa Morte's goalscoring form was rewarded with a senior debut for Portugal in the 4-0 defeat by world champions France in Paris in April 2001. It would be the first of 26 full caps for the winger, who is equally happy on either flank and can also operate in a central midfield or more advanced attacking role.

Boa Morte remained at Fulham for six-and-a-half seasons, becoming a firm favourite with the club's supporters, being voted as Player of the Year in 2004/05 and becoming captain in 2005/06.

In 2006, he also appeared for Portugal at the FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, stepping off the bench in the 2-1 Group D victory over Mexico in Frankfurt.

After netting 54 goals in 250 games for Fulham, however, Boa Morte decided to swap west London for east in January 2007, joining West Ham United's fight against relegation from the Barclays Premier League.

Following an impressive debut in the FA Cup third-round win over Brighton and Hove Albion, he went on to make 14 league appearances, scoring the vital opening goal in the 3-0 victory at Wigan Athletic on 28 April.

Boa Morte continued to be a regular member of the first-team squad during the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons, playing 32 times in each campaign. Indeed, his fine form towards the end of the 2008/09 season earned Boa Morte a recall to the Portugal squad. His progress was hampered by that cruciate ligament injury in the following summer, threatening his chances of playing again until spring 2010 at the earliest.