After establishing himself as a professional player with S.C. Beira-Mar, Porto-born Areias joined Primeira Liga club FC Porto for the 2004–05 season but, after being rarely used, he was consecutively loaned for the duration of his contract: Boavista FC,[1] Standard Liège (where he teamed up with former Portuguese internationals Sérgio Conceição and Ricardo Sá Pinto)[2] and RC Celta de Vigo; arrived in January 2007 at the latter, he only managed one La Liga appearance during his short spell, a 0–2 home loss against RCD Espanyol.
[7] After featuring rarely as the Lisbon side finished eighth, he could not help prevent the northern newcomers from being relegated in their first season ever.
[8] In the summer of 2010, after one year out of football, the 33-year-old Areias signed with Leixões S.C. of the Segunda Liga.
[9] He left at the end of the season, having played less than one third of the league games for the Matosinhos-based team.
Areias retired in 2011, and started working immediately as a players' agent.