The maxim “patience is a virtue” doesn’t really hold much sway at FC Porto. After taking over from Vitor Pereira last summer, Paulo Fonseca lasted only until March after group stage Champions League elimination and a poor league position. Reserve team coach Luis Castro took interim control until the end of the season but was only able to guide the club to third place, breaking the run of 3 straight league titles.
It will leave them facing a potentially difficult qualification round to get into the Champions League but there will be a relief that the Dragao still hosts the lure of the competition as the Portuguese giants start another rebuilding process under Julen Lopetegui.
The former Rayo Vallecano coach will assume his first senior club role since leaving the Madrid club in 2008 to play a major role in the production of Spain’s recent array of phenomenal talent, having coached their under-19, 20 and 21 sides across the past four years.
He is a stylistic, tactically versatile coach, focused on utilising an organised defensive base to allow a fluid attacking game to thrive and a relative inexperience shouldn’t be an issue given Porto’s past successes with Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas Boas.
The 47 year old has made immediate use of his knowledge of younger Spanish talent by returning to La Liga for six signings, as well as another young Spaniard in Jose Angel signed from AS Roma on a free-transfer. Juan Iturbe has gone in the opposite direction for a £17 million fee and defensive midfielder Fernando Regas has moved to Manchester City for £15 million.
Eliaquim Mangala is expected to complete a long-drawn out transfer in order to follow Regas to City and while the squad has been significantly weakened by these sales, Lopetegui has made astute replacements as he aims to wrestle the Liga Sagres back from Benfica.
So far the sales have raised just under £30 million while Mangala is expected to raise a further £32 million but perhaps most importantly, they have managed to keep hold of Colombian duo Jackson Martinez and Juan Quintero despite wide interest across Europe. Martinez has hit 46 league goals in 60 games over the past two seasons and has this summer signed a new deal, bumping his release clause up to £27 million and extending his future with Porto until 2017.
That represents a significant coup for club president Pinto da Costa who has seen his attacking talent leave without being able to present too much resistance in recent years. The likes of Anderson, Falcao, Fredy Guarin, Hulk, James Rodriguez and Lisandro Lopez have all been prised away for major fees and huge profits stemming from Porto’s excellent South American scouting network.
That has been mostly prevalent in Colombia where Guarin, Falcao and Rodriguez have been found and eventually sold on for a total of around £100 million. Rodriguez has become a unique success, becoming Real Madrid’s latest “Galactico” after performing brilliantly at the World Cup with Colombia. It was Porto who took the initial gamble on the midfielder, bringing James to Europe for just €5 million.
That brilliant eye for talent and shrewd business sense has become the cornerstone of the club for the past decade. No matter what extraordinary talent is plucked away from the club by the prying eyes of their more affluent rivals in more illustrious leagues, there seems to be another one in line to take their place.
Juan Iturbe has played just 6 times for the Portuguese club but his move to Roma has raised £15 million in profit while the exit of Mangala, signed from Liege for just over £6 million in 2011, will pocket a cool £25 million extra. Lopetegui has reinvested that sum gradually however, bolstering squad depth as well as adding quality to all areas.
However their business has this time been more orientated towards Europe, making use of Lopetegui’s extensive knowledge of the Spanish market. Their most expensive import has been the £9.6 million Adrian Lopez, the striker who played an important part in Atletico Madrid’s La Liga title win of last season. While he has not managed to replicate the prolific scoring rate of his first year in Madrid, his industry and work-rate will give an extra option alongside the ruthless Martinez.
Yacine Brahimi, the technically gifted Algerian right-winger who is also adept in the centre of midfield, comes in from Granada after an impressive World Cup in Brazil, while Cristian Tello comes in on loan from Barcelona with a huge point to prove. Majorly underused at the Nou Camp given his vast talent, the Catalan’s signing of Luis Suarez has pushed him further down the pecking order and under his former Spanish youth team coach at the Dragao, the pacey wide-man will get two years to show his exciting potential on the left side of a 3-pronged attack.
A similar deal has been arranged for Oliver Torres, Atletico Madrid’s highly-rated 19 year old midfielder who has picked up the nickname “Miniesta” owing to his likeliness to Barcelona’s superstar playmaker. A gifted passer and comfortable on the ball, the Primera Liga will cater to his style and under a manager he knows well already, he is likely to provide competition to Quintero’s attacking midfield slot as he continues to progress individually.
Behind the attacking talent that Lopetegui has stocked up on, the Brazilian Casimero arrives on loan from Real Madrid to provide a solid defensive screen, next to the combative Steven Defour, as a replacement for Fernando, while Bruno Martins-Indi will take-over Mangala’s spot in defence following a successful World Cup with the Netherlands. He will play alongside Maicon while the 21 year old Mexican Diego Reyes challenges for a starting spot under them, another precious talent the club has unearthed from the Latin American market.
More South American talent can be found in Alex Sandro and Danilo who offer boundless energy at full-back while long-serving goalkeeper Helton is challenged by fellow Brazilian Fabiano. Hector Herrera, Carlos Eduardo, Ricardo Pereira and the Brazilian Evandro who has this summer arrived from Estoril following typically detailed and lengthy scouting research, will offer craft and skill to the squad in forward areas.
Ricardo Quaresma, undergoing a renaissance in Oporto after seeing his once-promising career stall, will lead the squad as captain. The winger, at 30, is the oldest outfield player in a squad that is concerted on youth but high on dynamism and hunger to reclaim their dominance of the Portuguese domestic game.
