Former West Brom, Spurs, and QPR star comes out of retirement - signs for seventh-tier club

Former West Brom midfielder Sandro appears to have come out of retirement to sign for a non-league club. 

Sandro retired from professional football in September 2023 with his last club being B-SAD in Portugal. A year on from his decision to hang up his boots, it appears he will once again be gracing a football pitch, and could line up in the FA Cup at the end of this month.

Harborough Town claim they have signed Sandro after announcing him as their latest signing on Tuesday night. Manager Mitch Austin met Sandro a few weeks ago and told him about the club, and he has since persuaded him to sign for the Bees who recently made the second round of the FA Cup. 

They will play troubled League One club Reading at the end of November, after getting past Tonbridge in the last round. Harborough play in the Southern League Premier Division Central, and currently find themselves 16th out of 22 teams.

“What an unbelievable signing for the club, I really cannot express how I am feeling,” said manager Austin to the official club website. 

These sort of signings don’t happen every day but when you get a chance to sign an ex-professional footballer who has played at the highest level in the Premier League and Internationally with Brazil, you just cannot turn it down.

Austin added: “Credit to Sandro he has kept himself really fit and is an absolute great guy, down to earth who when the Chairman and I met with him came across very genuine, polite and humble, you could really sense there was a real desire to get the signing done on his part, I am absolutely delighted to have him at our club. 

“I think the players and staff around the club can learn great things from him and develop and watch his professionalism and understand what is needed if they want to progress and play at the highest possible level of the game. However long he stays we will all become better for it.”

Harborough Town are getting a player who made 17 appearances for Brazil and was bought by Spurs for a fee of around £8m.

During his time in England, Sandro played for Spurs, QPR, and West Brom. He joined the Baggies on loan in the 2015/16 season, making 13 appearances. Sandro returned to QPR and played eight more times before joining Antalyaspor in Turkey, and then turned out for Benevento, Genoa, and Udinese in Serie A.