Born in the village of Vidago, a spa town in Chaves, Vila Real District,[2] Gonçalves' father died a month after his birth.

[4][6] He made his only competitive appearance for the first team on 28 August 2018, in a 2–0 away win against Sheffield Wednesday in the second round of the EFL Cup, coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Elliot Watt.

[7] Gonçalves returned to Portugal on 2 July 2019, joining newly promoted Famalicão on a five-year deal, citing homesickness during his time in England, as one of the reasons for his transfer.

[11] During his spell at the Estádio Municipal 22 de Junho, Gonçalves established himself as a regular at midfield and made a significant contribution to the team's strong start to the season, becoming club captain in January 2020, scoring seven times and providing eight assists in all competitions from 40 appearances, helping the club to a record sixth-place finish in the league.

[13] On 18 August 2020, Gonçalves signed a five-year contract with Sporting CP of the same league, for a fee of €6.5 million for half of his economic rights.

[14] On 1 October, he made his debut for the club in a 4–1 home loss against LASK in the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League, as a 67th-minute substitute for Luciano Vietto.

[21] On 31 July, Gonçalves scored a goal in the 2–1 defeat of Braga in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, and was named man of the match.

[25] On 3 November, he scored his first two UEFA Champions League goals in a 4–0 home group stage victory against Beşiktaş, and was named man of the match.

[26] He repeated the feat three weeks later in a 3–1 win against Borussia Dortmund, ensuring the team's qualification to the round of sixteen for the first time since the 2008–09 season.

[33] Ahead of the 2023–24 season, Sporting handed Gonçalves the number 8 shirt, who had previously belonged to Matheus Nunes and Bruno Fernandes.

[42] Having already participated in the first stage of the under-21 finals,[43] in May 2021 Gonçalves was selected by Fernando Santos for his UEFA Euro 2020 squad due to the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under manager Ruben Amorim at Sporting CP, Gonçalves was deployed as an attacking midfielder or a right winger in the team's 3–4–2–1 or 3–4–3 formations, during which, he is allowed the freedom to fluidly move, coming infield to get close to the central striker or pulling off to the edge of the box.