Portugal: Transfer round-up

Sporting Clube de Portugal have the best youth scheme in the country, possibly in Europe. The likes of Paulo Futre, Luís Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani have passed though it, and remaining there are players such as the much admired and coveted midfielders João Moutinho and Miguel Veloso, both shining at the recent European U-21 Championship. The scheme, aided in recent years by the establishment of the Sporting Academia, near Alcochete to the south of the River Tagus, has been the saviour of the club financially. Sporting’s two main rivals, FC Porto and Benfica, cannot boast such success.

The last home-grown Benfica player to make any kind of noise domestically and internationally was midfielder Manuel Fernandes, who after two modest seasons in England (Portsmouth and Everton), has now returned to the Luz. Last season, the only home-grown player on view was midfielder João Coimbra, but after just a handful of appearances, he has now been farmed out to Madeiran club Nacional. The club has contracted former striker Rui Águas to head up the scouting department, but it could be years before any effect he may have filters through to the ‘A’ team.

At FC Porto, the story is much the same. Central defender Bruno Alves returned to his mother club a couple of seasons back and has established a good understanding with Brazilian team-mate Pepe, but promising winger Ivanildo has been loaned out for the last two seasons, and forward Vieirinha will face the same fate next.

Meanwhile, Portuguese teams continue to invest in "cheap" players of dubious quality from the South American market and, increasingly, from Eastern Europe. The Big Three have all had their fingers burned in recent seasons. Benfica notoriously signed a couple of Brazilian midfielders in 2004, Everson and Paulo Almeida, both of whom bombed completely, but the club was left paying their salaries. FC Porto have a history of off-loading their best players (this time Anderson and Pepé, possibly Quaresma) and replacing them with unknown quantities that make the grade only on a very hit-and-miss basis: for every Paulo Assunção (the excellent Brazilian defensive midfielder), there’s a Claudio Pitbull (the Brazilian forward signed in 2004 and still on 50,000 euros a month, but loaned out to Académica last season and still persona non grata at the Dragão).

Other clubs are just as guilty of scooping up quantity, often at the expense of the internally promoted or the tried and tested. Boavista, champions in 2001 but struggling now, have had a massive clear-out of their squad, half of them having their contracts terminated or being transferred or released. Stalwarts like José Manuel (Sporting Braga), Tiago (União de Leiria) and Lucas (Red Star) have been replaced by the speculative likes of Laionel (Anápolis) and Bosančić (Partizan), youngsters who have yet to become accustomed to the Portuguese game. Even coach Jaime Pacheco sees the danger: “I'm making [president] João Loureiro responsible: this squad has to be strengthened with quality players … the squad isn't how I want it to be. To win, we need good players.”

But Boavista are merely representative of most of the Portuguese clubs’ strategy in the transfer market: buy cheap, hope for a miracle. Sporting have the right idea: they have a well grounded internal system that is producing results on the pitch and profits from transfer transactions. The other Portuguese clubs would do well to follow suit.