Jair Tavares burst onto the scene at Hibs under Nick Montgomery after a difficult start to life in Edinburgh.

Born in Lisbon on 13 February 2001, Tavares hails from a footballing family. His older brothers Caludio and Miguel both featured in Portugal’s top-flight, whilst his cousin Renato Sanches has won the European Championship, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Primeira Liga.

Forging his own career in the game, Jair has come through the Benfica youth set-up and has certainly caught the eye. In 2016 he made his debut for Portugal’s Under-15s, and just five months later made the step-up to their Under-16s.

Under the guidance of Portuguese manager Rui Bento, he continued to progress through his nation’s youth ranks being capped at U17, U18, and U19 level.

Alongside the international stage, he also impressed for Benfica. He appeared in the UEFA Youth League in 2018 against Bayern Munich, before facing Marseille, RB Leipzig, and Zenit the following season.

He shone in the Under-23s league bagging six goals, which led to his progression to Benfica B.

With the Portuguese side’s B Team, he continued to develop and was a regular for them last season contributing to five goals in 24 league games.

The cousin of Renato Sanches, Jair excelled under Nick Montgomery and scored his first goal for the Club against Ross County in October 2023.