The last month has occupied us football fans with a lot of international football and, if you’re Portuguese, you most likely spent your last few days celebrating what was an absolutely unforgettable win for the country.
With that said, tomorrow the Liga NOS fixtures are announced and we’re a month away from the start of the club season and, despite a lot of the internationals being at the start of their vacation, pre-season has taken over the lives of our clubs. A lot has happened at the start of this pre-season, mainly related to transfers, so we will wrap it all up in this article. Who is arriving in Portugal for the first time? Who left? How are the smaller clubs approaching the 2016/17 season? Let’s find out.
Note: Benfica, Sporting and Porto’s endeavours are not included in this particular article, as they are dealt with in separate articles and in order to emphasize the rest of the Portuguese league and its coaches, players and clubs. Clubs are listed in the order they finished last season.
BRAGA:
José Peseiro’s coaching staff have arrived at the Pedreira but no revolution in the squad has happened just yet, only somewhat “natural” changes so far. Luiz Carlos is the highlight in the names that left the team – the Brazilian has been a solid contributor to Braga’s midfield ever since arriving from Paços and has now decided to move to Saudi Arabia (Al Ahli). Other than that Filipe Augusto, Josué and Rui Fonte all left due to only being on loan at the club, so they were expected losses that Peseiro has to cover (especially the latter two).
Ricardo Horta was obviously the big name signing so far: the Portuguese international will hope to have more minutes with the “Arsenalistas” than what he did at Malaga. Big things are expected from the winger who may be the cover for a possible Rafa sale since, despite the lack of minutes in France, he’s still the most valuable asset in the club. Pedro Tiba is coming back from a loan in the Spanish second division and the talented midfielder will have a chance to prove himself under Peseiro, just like Luis Aguiar – the experienced Uruguayan signed back with the club after a since playing for Peñarol.
To finish the wrap on the fourth biggest team in Portugal we have two transfers that went somewhat under the radar for some: Rosic, a massive Serbian centre-back with lots of potential, signed form Vojvodina (5th in the Serbian league) and I can thoroughly see him being an option for Peseiro (especially with the necessary rotation that comes with European games) and Tomas Martinez, a talented young attacking midfielder joined from River Plate. Dropping 2M€ on a single player is unusual for a team like Braga and I expect the 20 year old to be worth every penny.
AROUCA:
After an absolutely remarkable season, Arouca is preparing the first European season in the club’s history and is doing so very well. Due to achieving their league position through team centered strategy and not on the back of rising talents, the club will be able to keep most of their assets for next year while bringing in some extra talent as well. The ones that did leave are – apparently – very well covered by the new transfers.
The full-backs have been changed: Lucas Lima had a brilliant season at left back and moved to France to play for Nantes, while the right back Jailson signed for Arouca. The somewhat unknown Vitor Costa has big shoes to fill on the left, having arrived from Avaí, while on the right the club signed Anderson Luis. Arguably the best right-back in the league last year, the Brazilian will display his quality in the European stage next year – great move. In the midfield we’ll see two familiar faces returning to the league: the attacking midfielder Crivellaro, who has played for Vitória Guimarães, arrived after a stint in Poland and the talented André Santos (ex-Sporting) came in from France where he helped promote Metz. These two will be great replacements for Pintassigo and David Simão (CSKA Sofia), and the latter will provide much needed European experience to a young group.
Up front Ivo Rodrigues will surely be missed but who knows if the Arouquenses can make a deal with Porto to loan the youngster for another season. It will also be interesting to see the powerful Marlon de Jesus adapt to Portuguese football – despite being quite injury prone, the Ecuadorean might have his niche in the team next season.
RIO AVE:
The team from Vila do Conde has established itself as one of the more solid football clubs in the country: good results, entertaining football, great environment around the stadium and between players, great coaching staffs and consistency. Can they do it again this year? I’m doubtful. Pedro Martins left his coaching spot and Capucho will have to prove himself as a coach in the first division in what is becoming quite a big team – expectations are high.
The early transfer season hasn’t been kind on the Vilacondenses: Postiga, Kuca, Bressan and Ukra left, the latter being a major blow to the squad, and players such as Heldon and Kayembe – who were on loan – are solving their destiny with their parent club. In terms of additions there were three major ones: Ruben Ribeiro, a winger who comes into Rio Ave after an incredible second half of the season with Boavista, Kizito – a forward who came from Farense to try his luck in the Liga NOS – and Eliseu Cassamá who has an handful of matches for the Portuguese youth sides and signed from Spanish club Reus.
I predict this to be the season that confirms Ruben Ribeiro’s quality as a player but will that really be enough to get around so many key departures? At least the team’s defence and midfield core is intact but the club needs to add a couple more offensive options to balance out their roster, even more so with European competitions to be played.
PAÇOS DE FERREIRA:
In a similar fashion to Rio Ave, Paços switched coaching staff despite having Jorge Simão lead them to 6th place last season and brought in an inexperienced coach when it comes to first division endeavours. The 43 year old Carlos Pinto is now in charge of a team that is losing a big chunk of their team from last year.
As if Diogo Jota leaving for Atletico wasn’t enough, his attacking partner Bruno Moreira is now getting himself a nice paycheck in Thailand, with Buriram United. At the other end of the pitch, Fabio Cardoso left to sign with Vitória F.C. and the quality left back Helder Lopes will be playing for Las Palmas in 2016/17. Finally, to add insult to injury, the experienced Manuel José isn’t an option any longer, reliable options such as Roniel and Edson Farias also left and both Pelé and Fabio Martins went back to the clubs they are contracted to.
Those are a lot of key players to substitute and it won’t be easy at all for the club from the “Furniture Capital”. Gleison from Porto’s B team, Leandro Silva (Académica) and Vasco Rocha from Feirense were the biggest names to be announced so far and the squad needs some more reinforcements.
ESTORIL:
Known for being defensively sound last season, Fabiano’s men might have a tough time keeping the same record this year. The young centre-back Diego Carlos had a fantastic season and moved to Nantes, and as we said previously Anderson Luiz moved up north to Arouca. The reliable duo of starters: Yohan Tavares and Pavel Kieszek, centre-back and goalkeeper respectively, also left the club just like forward and winger Mendy and Gerso.
With all of that said, the club hasn’t been held back in the signing department with a ton of new faces in yellow and blue kits. With new talent coming in mainly from the depths of Brazil or the east of Europe, there are a few question marks over the impact that these unproven players may have. Bazelyuk is the biggest highlight out of these: the Russian striker was made in the CSKA youth sides but after a series of disappointing loan spells, he didn’t get close to the potential he was supposed to have. Maybe the Portuguese sun and tutoring from one of the league’s best strikers in Bonatini (who still hasn’t left the club and remains its biggest asset) is all he needs to finally start maturing.
The midfielders: Matheus Índio, Eduardo Teixeira and Bilal also signed for the club from Vasco da Gama, Fluminense and Tondela, respectively. The trio of goalkeepers composed of Thierry Graça, Moreira and Luis Ribeiro will battle for the place Kieszek left open.
BELENENSES:
When Julio Velázquez was appointed as new club manager mid last season a lot us didn’t know what to expect from the Spanish manager, but now we do: Velázquez enjoys offensive, entertaining football and will make his team enter the pitch with a winning mentality every single match. Of course this has its downsides just like we saw in the heavy defeats against big teams but I believe that now, with a squad crafted under his conditions, the young coach can produce an interesting league campaign. A lot of transfers have surrounded the team from Restelo so far so I believe this is one of the teams that is closer to being complete and ready to go for their season.
Two January transfers departed in Bakic and Aguilar, and while the Colombian wasn’t as crucial as expected, Bakic will be missed. The defenders João Amorim, Tonel and Filipe Ferreira also made their way out but with all the transfers that arrived, I believe the club will be able to handle it. The full back João Diogo moved to the continent after a solid batch of seasons with Marítimo, just like Mica Pinto who arrived from Sporting – after captaining the B team for a bit of time and having a loan spell with Huelva, he’s finally ready to prove himself in our main league. The Spanish midfielder Fernando Llorente (no, not the Sevilla striker) was requested by the coach and will be an option for the centre of the pitch just like the experienced Yebda, Algerian centre mid who played for Benfica in 2008/09.
Sporting kept the great relations with the blue club by also loaning Domingos Duarte – an immensely talented centre-back – and Uri Rosell (who never showed in Portugal the abilities he displayed for Sporting Kansas City) to the club. The biggest question mark is around Serbian 21 year old forward Komnen Andric but who knows if he isn’t the next talent to set off in our league. I honestly believe Belenenses can do great things this year and have a feeling Uri Rosell may be fundamental for that.
VITÓRIA GUIMARÃES:
Pedro Martins made his way to the city where the country was born after leading Rio Ave to European spots in a regular basis. More than confirmed as a quality coach, he hasn’t made many signings but the few he did have been important. From rivals to teammates: João Aurélio and Rúben Ferreira, two of the best Portuguese full backs in the league (with João being quite versatile as well) both signed for Vitória leaving behind Nacional and Marítimo, respectively. These two will be fantastic replacements for Luis Rocha and the impressive Dalbert who moved to France (Nice) and will also provide some needed competition for Bruno Gaspar.
Tiquinho Soares travelled to the mainland as well after impressing with Nacional (scoring 10 in the league) to be the team’s main forward – which will be an even easier task due to Dourado’s departure. To wrap up the transfers we have two interesting midfielders arriving: Zungu, an attacking midfielder who is a 19 times South African international at only 23 years of age, will have his first experience outside of his country and Mbemba – 21 year old French central midfielder who was labelled as a potential talent in the Lille academy and will now play in black and white.
As you can see a very interesting team is being built by Pedro Martins, even if all the players that were on loan at the club went back to their clubs – the main losses being Otávio and Licá, but also Victor Andrade, Rosell and Hurtado.
NACIONAL:
It’s true that with Manuel Machado in charge you’re always a bit unsure on what to expect but even more so this year with Nacional. The team from Madeira that always aims for a European spot went through a lot of changes in the past couple of weeks and it will be all about how the new recruits can cover for the ones that left.
Starting with the latter group, the twin brothers João and Luis Aurélio went on different paths – one to Vitória Guimarães and the other to Feirense – just like the goal scorer Tiquinho Soares (also moving to Vitória) and reliable goalkeeper Gottardi. To make matters worse, the promising defender Miguel Rodrigues will be playing in Greece next season (Panetolikos), Brazilian centre-back Alan Henrique moved to Qatar and Nenê Bonilha moved to Vitória Setúbal. Renewal time in Madeira, for sure.
The midfield seems to have been very well patched up with the talented Tiago Rodrigues arriving on yet another loan from Porto (after a season with rivals Marítimo), Vitor Gonçalves from Gil Vicente and Luís Silva who got promoted with Chaves. Just like the latter, defender Diogo Coelho also arrived from Chaves. Three other loan signings will be key to the club’s success this season: Sporting’s Tobias Figueiredo (on loan) will take over the centre-back position and get more minutes than what he did at Alvalade last season, Benfica’s winger Murillo will try to impress again after doing so on loan at Tondela and the Brazilian Roniel will display his talent for Nacional after seasons with FC Porto B and Paços. At least they’ve been able to keep both Aly Ghazal and Salvador Agra, players who are a big part of the team’s model.
Let’s see how this renewed side gels together – albeit there’s still a clear need for a true centre-forward.
MOREIRENSE:
If you’re not on par with the Segunda Liga you will most likely be unaware of Pepa’s qualities as a coach but the 35 year old that played for Benfica is now on his first Liga NOS adventure after being fired – unfairly in my view – from promoted Feirense halfway through last season. I’m personally a huge fan of Miguel Leal (who’s contract with Moreirense ended) but I believe Pepa will bring fresh ideas to a team that is now somewhat settled in the league.
A big chunk of the players that were often on the team sheet last season are no longer a part of the club, but I still believe that incoming transfers will fit the new coach’s profile even better. Midfielders Filipe Gonçalves (Slask Wroclaw) and Vitor Gomes left just like full backs Evaldo and Coronas (Marítimo), and striker Cardozo went back to Paraguay – his country of origin. Perhaps leaving even more of a void to fill, the forward duo that “carried” the team on their backs last season are no longer in Moreira de Cónegos. Goal-scoring winger Iuri Medeiros will give his all to impress JJ in the Sporting pre-season campaign and Rafael Martins has to solve his future with Levante. Brilliant defensive midfielder Palhinha has the exact same fate as Iuri, also trying to become a part of Sporting’s squad, and Fábio Espinho has a question mark over his future with Málaga. Lots of departures – most of them expected – but that tends to be the case when a new coaching team arrives at a club and the signings seem to be setting the club into a good direction.
Makaridze, a solid Georgian goalkeeper that worked with Pepa at Feirense, will probably take over in goal (or at least will provide some competition to Stefanovic after a good season from the Serbian), versatile midfielders Jander and Cauê will provide some depth and David Ramírez may impress up front. The 23 year old is a 17 times Costa Rica international and will try his luck in Europe for the second time, arriving from Saprissa.
In a similar fashion to last year’s situation, the club will have two youngsters who’ll be important for the side: Rebocho signed a three-year deal after consistent displays at left back for Benfica’s B team and Francisco Geraldes – tidy attacking mid from Sporting – will follow Iuri’s steps and have a loan year with Moreirense. Expect good things from them this season.
MARÍTIMO:
Probably the team with least changes from last year (except the big-3), Marítimo hasn’t made any massive moves this transfer season. In fact the most surprising transfer to come into the club will spend the season on the bench: the Brazilian Paulo César Gusmão came into the coaching position and there are a lot of question marks over what he may or may not be able to achieve with this Marítimo side.
Starting goalkeeper, fullbacks and an important midfielder all departed the club: Salin, João Diogo, Rúben Ferreira and Tiago Rodrigues, respectively. As reinforcements the coach picked up several Brazilian players (Raul Silva, Bruno Nunes, Christiano Vieira, Regis Silva, Felipe Manoel) who, despite lacking European experience, should connect reasonably well with the coach’s mindset. The core of the team that got to the final of the League Cup last year is still around so it will be interesting to see what’s in store for this side.
BOAVISTA:
Similarly to Belenenses, Boavista also kept the coaching staff that arrived halfway through the last one for the new season. Erwin Sanchéz now has the responsibility to adjust the team to his style of play and replace the 4 key players that departed this summer. Talented left back Afonso Figueiredo signed with Ligue 1 side Rennes after being pursued by Benfica, Paulo Vinicius who was a rock at centre back didn’t renew his contract; forward Zé Manuel completed a strange move to Porto and winger Ruben Ribeiro signed with Rio Ave. Those are four important starters gone, but there are some interesting signings to make up for it.
Offensive full back Edu Machado arrived after being promoted with Chaves and two surprising forward options are also part of the club now. Schembri, an experienced and versatile striker who has played all around Europe signed from Omonia and is a 70 times Malta international (not bad at all!). Lovro Medic is a Croatian forward who, at 25 years of age, will have his debut season outside of his country after playing for NK Zagreb his entire career. A centre-back is still missing but other than that… let’s see how these two settle in, shall we?
VITÓRIA SETÚBAL:
The departure of Quim Machado was followed by the return of José Couceiro to the club, a coach that is particularly keen on signing and promoting young players.
That’s exactly what the Portuguese manager has done with three recruits from Benfica’s youth arriving to the club. On a loan deal, the winger Nuno Santos will finally be able to show his abilities in the Primeira Liga. With a contract that connects him to the club until 2020, the 22 year old centre-back Fábio Cardoso arrived in Setúbal after two solid seasons on loan at Paços de Ferreira. And finally the goalkeeper Bruno Varela also signed with Vitória, hoping to compete with Raeder and Pedro Trigueira for a place in goal. The latter, arriving after a season with Académica will most likely be the starter, though.
After a good season with Romanian side Pandurii, Vasco Fernandes returns to Portugal to cover Miguel Lourenço’s exit (the centre-back signed with Zira, from Azerbaijan). Nene Bonilha who showed interesting characteristics with Nacional was the chosen one to surpass the loss of André Horta to the champions. With that said, the most important thing to know about Vitória is that – so far – they have been able to keep players such as Fabio Pacheco, André Claro and Costinha, which will all be key to the team’s approach to next season.
TONDELA:
After the brilliant recovery at the end of last season, that led to their maintenance in the top flight, Petit and his staff are preparing the new season with the clear objective to stay in the league again – maybe in a less stressful way. With a squad that was made out of loan players last season, it was only expected for most of them to leave and for the team to be rebuilt.
Obviously a lot of new faces came in (and most of them aren’t even loans!) so let’s get to know this new Tondela. Two experienced Primeira Liga full-backs were signed in Rafael Amorim and Jailson, from Belenenses and Arouca, just like the versatile Fábio Nunes (winger, midfielder, full-back) who also arrived from Belém. Two men from Madeira arrived in the mainland to play under Petit: experienced midfielder Fernando Ferreira (Marítimo) and Miguel Cardoso. The skilful 22 year old winger finished his contract with Deportivo Coruña and will now be looking to impress with Tondela after a period on loan with União da Madeira last year. Claude Gonçalves, a French-Portuguese defensive midfielder signed from second division side Ajaccio and will be looking to settle in the starting eleven from the start.
To finish up, two other youngsters will be a part of the club for this season: Elnur Jafarov is the first of them – the 19 year old winger came from Khazar, a team that finished last in Azerbaijan last season, but is already an international for his country. Helping the latter confronting the language barrier is Lystcov, the massive Russian centre-back is on loan for a season from Benfica and will prove himself worthy on and off the pitch. A departure that I have to highlight is the one of Nathan Junior, the Brazilian striker who contributed with 13 goals (finishing the golden boot race in 8th place) will now play for Saudi club Al Fateh.
CHAVES:
After winning the Portuguese second division, Chaves has now been making moves in the transfer season with the clear intention to keep themselves in the league and do so in fine fashion. Jorge Simão was the coach to embrace this project after leaving Paços in 6th in the league last season. Positive football, promotion of youngsters, good results – a lot of good things can be associated with this coach and the transfers have been quite smart as well.
Obviously the club lost a lot of players, whether to other first division clubs – Edu Machado (Boavista), Diogo Coelho and Luis Silva (Nacional) – or to a variety of Segunda Liga clubs – Tozé Marreco (Académica), Barry (Aves), Siaka Bamba (Cova Piedade) – but Chaves has been approaching the market in an extremely clever way. In hopes of getting some Primeira Liga experienced onto the club’s roster, Chaves got hold of: Rafael Lopes (a forward who played for Académica last year) and Luiz Alberto (a defensive mid who was key on Tondela’s recovery and had a fantastic strike against Porto). The club also brought back some well-known faces to our league that were playing all around Europe: the feisty right back Pedro Queirós is back after a title winning season in Romania, Felipe Lopes is returning in hope of more minutes than what he had with Wolfsburg, Leandro Freire is back in Portugal after over 40 matches in Cyprus for Apollon Limassol and last but not least, Simon Vukcevic who had the best times of his career as a powerful winger for Sporting is back again, hoping for consistent minutes.
To go along with the experience, winger Fabio Martins and centre midfielder Francisco Ramos were loaned from Braga and Porto, respectively and are both talented enough to make a difference. Serbian full back Petrovic is said to have a lot of potential as well and with such a balanced squad and a coach that has proved himself in the first division, I have a lot of hope for this Chaves side.
FEIRENSE:
The experienced José Mota took over in the middle of last season with the clear objective to achieve promotion to the top division. The objective was accomplished and now the coach will proceed to work on maintaining the club amongst the best in the country.
Kizito, Ali Meza, Makaridze, were all big losses for the squad but have been replaced decently. The experienced Peçanha is back in the country to be in goal for Feirense, after spells in Romania and defensively the team got a solid “upgrade”. Vitor Bruno arrived from Cluj, full-back Kakuba was loaned yet again from Estoril and Paulo Monteiro – an absolutely crucial player for União last season that I’ve mentioned here before – is also a part of the club.
Midfielders Luis Aurélio and Ricardo Dias bring some much need experience, arriving from Nacional and Belenenses. I expect this team to make a few more transfer moves until August – some irreverent youngsters on loan would probably patch up the side nicely – where they will start their battle for maintenance.
By Tiago Estêvão
