Portuguese Transfer Market Thoughts
By: Greg | June 19th, 2007
Thought Bubble #1: Correct me if I’m wrong here but Porto is still in fact a part of the so-called G-14 grouping of the richest, most prestigious clubs in Europe, right? Then why aren’t they a part of incoming big name transfer rumors? Why is thirty-five million Euro rated player X not being courted by Chelsea, Man United, Inter, and Porto?
Portugal’s a gorgeous country with places like the Algarve where the weather rivals that of southern California. It’s close to England, Spain (duh, they’re connected), and even relatively close to places like Italy and Germany (If you feel insulted by the obvious geography points I just made, blame the average American who, based on surveys, requires this information be spelled out for him or her). It’s a part of the European Union, uses the Euro, and has a fantastic natural landscape.
So where the hell is everyone? They’re where the money is, stupid.
Thought Bubble #2: Fiorentina have apparently tabled a bid of 7 million pounds for Porto’s 24 year old Brazilian defender Pepe. I talked about Pepe and Chelsea’s interest in him back in April. If Chelsea send in a bid here, which they indicated that they were strongly considering back in April, I don’t see Pepe turning down a chance to play under Mourinho. I don’t know enough about Fiorentina to speak about how well/poorly Pepe would fit there, but I feel he could press in to first team action with Chelsea immediately, so take that for what it’s worth.
Thought Bubble #3: Will someone in England please keep Manuel Fernandes? After passing through more Premier League locker rooms than an English barmaid, West Ham are looking to be his next pimp and have reportedly offered Benfica 12 million pounds for the player. I personally think that number is a bit high. I see him worth more in the realm of 8-10 million pounds, given the current market for Portuguese league players in England.
Thought Bubble #4: I’m hungry, it’s lunchtime.
Category: Super Liga
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Porto are cleaver, cleaver when it comes to transfers… Sporting sold Quaresnma to Barca, he didn’t make it there (too young, maybe), Euro 2004 happened, they sold Deco to Barca for a million times what they payed (I guess) and got Quaresma in the process, for half the price he’s worth…
As usual, G14 or not, money isn’t (never has been) PT’s strength… If they’re quiet, it means they don’t have $ or they’re planning something… It can also be cos their President (we must use caps, otherwhise we end up waking up with a horse’s head next to us) is in trouble (finally) with the portuguese justice…
I remember Mourinho saying something about him, he’s desperatelly trying to get a PT passport (even spoke with god himself Scolari) and is a million light years better than Boularouz. Which is leaving Chelsea…
I agree that M Fernandes is currently a bit underestimated in ENG… But all this fuss due to him and Benfica’s president (here it’s OK not to use caps) trying to squeeze some extra $, I guess… Soon enough, it’ll be M Veloso
going somwhere, but we’ll see…It’s dinner time…
Actually, here in NL it was dinner time 2 hours ago – they eat at 6; and in PT I guess it’ll only be dinner in an hour or two – we eat between 8 and 10, taking time zones into account… Posted from
Netherlands
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It’s funny, Porto and other clubs in PT suffer because they don’t get the big money, but that’s also half the reason PT footy has so much heart right now. An infusion of cash and respect wouldn’t hurt, but the suits need to wake up. English team need to stop selling and start buying. With all the money going into the Premiership, they should have a few lbs to spend.
Anyway, Manuel Fernandes is going to have a great season in the EPL this year. That’s my call for 2006/2007. U21 underachieved but he was fantastic against Israel. He’s so strong and dominating around the area. He can fight off any defender and still impress you with his moves. Veloso is going to be a standout if he keeps his current form, as well.
All and all good things are possible for PT footy. Now we just have to figure out how to crank out coaches too.
One other idea on the SP – PT tip. How about inter-league matches during the season? Maybe some final at the end of the season to determine Iberian Champ? What a way to broaden things out on the peninsula and get the money moving around.
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WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!
Ricardo Vaz Te, Bolton player and PT U21, just said he’d like to play for Sporting
, that he’d like to come and play in PT but FC Porto wouldn;t be the ideal , plus he’d love playing together with his friends Djalo, Veloso and Moutinho AND playing for Paulo Bento – for a coach debueing, he’s been great and the work with the kids has been absolutelly brilliant, moreover considering the little resources ($) Sporting has… In PT (sorry) – Greg, can you translate…? http://www.maissub21.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=822915&div_id=3275Argentinian AC Milan’s left back, Leandro Grimi (?) is target of Sporting’s interest… http://www.maisfutebol.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=822554&div_id=1457
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Luis, to me, something like an “Iberian Championship” would’t make much sense… Portugal would be diluted into some sort of Spanish Federation… Not theorically, but in practical terms, it would…
What I meant, long time ago, was some sort of tournement – could even be friendly, could even be once every 5 years, etc – between countries that speak portuguese (CPLP) and spanish – roughly some 600 million pepople (200 PT + 400 SPA), PLUS, the nice football… The one some call full of divers and cheats, some others call technical, passionate, beautifull, etc…
Plus all the cultural bonds…
And using football to help who really needs…Speaking of the portuguese part, let’s not forget Brasil is a world power in football and that East Timor (Timor Loro Sae) is a country that can hardly call itself “a country”, but still showed recently the world a gigantic lesson in Democracy (I wish others could follow the example), because it’s some 40-50 degrees in the shade, there’s hardly any “structure” (let alone infra-structures) but STILL more than 80% went and voted (which meant hours waiting in line, to put a piece of paper in a box), for their elections… Now, this means something… And the oil around their waters – something Australia knows very well – should be incentive enough to bring people’s attention there…
Like the gold and diamonds in Angola is still catching the eye of everybody… They could never hold a match there (Timor), but “somebody” could pay a trip and they could go and play Brasil, for example… Maybe I dream…
Posted from
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