The 23-year-old centre-back arrives from Benfica, where he has built a reputation as one of Europe’s most promising young players and has agreed a six-year deal which keeps him at the Club until the summer of 2026.
Here are 10 things you may not know about our new signing…
Full name
City have signed Rúben dos Santos Gato Alves Dias, to give him his full title.
Front to back
Born in Amadora, to the north of Lisbon, Dias started playing football at Estrela da Amadora, where he was initially used as a striker.
However, he made an early switch to defence, which was where he was playing when he signed for Benfica at the age of 11.
Family affair
Older brother Ivan is also a professional footballer. The 25-year-old is a centre-back and plays for Clube Oriental Lisboa in the Portuguese third tier.
Progression
Dias progressed through the Benfica academy and made his B team debut in the second division in September 2015 at the age of 18.
The following season, he helped the second string to fourth place in LigaPro - the highest position the B team had ever finished – alongside the likes of Joao Felix, Gedson Fernandes and Luka Jovic.
Familiar face
Dias was part of the same Benfica B team as Ederson for the 2015/16 season. The duo only played together twice in a campaign in which the Brazilian made his first team breakthrough.
Power couple
Dias is in a relationship with Portuguese pop star April Ivy and it seems he has some musical talent himself. A clip he shared on his official Instagram shows the defender playing guitar to accompany his girlfriend’s singing.
In numbers
Dias played 137 games in total for Benfica, during which he scored 12 goals and provided six assists.
Leadership potential
Dias has represented Portugal at every level from under-16 and captained the under-19s at the 2016 European Championships and the under-20s at the 2017 World Cup.
In the under-19 competition, he was named in the Team of the Tournament, in which Kylian Mbappe was another notable inclusion.
Strong start
At the time of writing, City’s new recruit has been capped 19 times by Portugal and has enjoyed a fine start to his international career, winning all but one of those games.
His only defeat came against Ukraine in a European Championship qualifying match, which Oleksandr Zinchenko’s side won 2-1.
Fitting finale
Dias’ signed off his Benfica career in style, captaining them to a 2-0 win over Moreirense, in which he was also on the scoresheet.
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