After a pretty mild start to proceedings by Portuguese standards, the transfer window hit top gear in its final week within the confines of the Primeira Liga, with an explosion of activity involving Portugal’s top clubs.
No team felt the adrenaline rush that came with incomings and outgoings as hard as Sporting this season, meanwhile their direct rivals, Benfica and FC Porto, weren’t too far behind, as the clock ticked dangerously close to midnight.
Patrick Ribeiro rounds up who's in and who's out at the "Big Three" and Braga in what turned into one of the most frantic ever summer transfer windows in Portugal.
Sporting rake in record windfall, Adrien stays
The Lions began stealing the show days prior to the window’s closure by raking in a record-high bundle of €74.5 million (£62.7 million) in transfer fees, selling João Mário and top scorer Islam Slimani to Inter Milan and Leicester City, respectively. The Alvalade club earned a further £4.5 million with the transfer of centre-back Naldo to Russian outfit Krasnodar. Sporting’s coffers could have been topped up further following a reported €45 million deal that would have seen Adrien Silva follow Slimani to become the most expensive Portuguese player in the Primeira Liga’s history, only for the move to fail to materialise.
In another high profile transfer, Jorge Jesus welcomed back with open arms the prospect of a reunion with former Benfica star Lazar Marković, as the Serbian winger agreed to join from Liverpool on a season-long loan.
The title hopefuls were also able to seal the transfers of Arsenal’s Joel Campbell (loan), Corinthians duo André and Elias, Luc Castaignos from Eintracht Frankfurt, Trabzonspor defender Douglas and a new club-record move worth €10 million (plus €2m in add-ons) for Wolfsburg striker Bas Dost in the past week.
Sporting allowed Carlos Mané to join VfB Stuttgart on loan with a view to a permanent deal, whereas Daniel Podence, Wallyson and Iuri Medeiros also sealed loan switches to Moreirense, Standard Liege and Boavista, respectively.
Porto bolster squad, Óliver returns
In less lively, but active circumstances nonetheless, Porto completed three notable moves for their first team squad. Ex-Paços de Ferreira star Diogo Jota, who scored against both Porto and Benfica last season, has seen his spell with new club Atlético Madrid come to an abrupt end after little less than two months in Spain.
The 19-year-old wasn’t short of suitors, however, with Porto moving first to nail down a loan deal for the highly-rated forward, who can be signed on a permanent deal come the end of the season. Jota isn’t the only Madrid import to arrive at the Estádio do Dragão, as Óliver Torres returns for a second stint in Porto colours on a one-and-a-half-year loan.
Another familiar face set to return to the Dragons was thought to be Eliaquim Mangala, currently unwanted at Manchester City, but differences in wage demands saw the northern-based club lose out to Valencia in the race for his signature.
Instead, Porto circulated again for Braga’s Willy Boly, referenced on numerous occasions as a potential target for Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad throughout the summer. The French centre-back was captured for a €6.5 million fee, as the Dragons called it a day for inbound players.
Contrary to reports, Yacine Brahimi stayed put in the wake of interest from Premier League club Everton, but one player who did make the jump to English football was Bruno Martins Indi, after two fruitless years in the Primeira Liga.
Stoke City confirmed the signing of Martins Indi on loan, where the Dutchman will be reunited with former teammate and record Porto signing Gianelli Imbula, with the Potters also holding the right to make the deal permanent at any given juncture during this season.
Unable to nail down a role in the first team, Portuguese winger Hernâni decided to return to Vitória Guimarães on a temporary basis, with the Dragons ringing out more loans for the likes of Alberto Bueno to Granada, Diego Reyes to Espanyol, Sinan Bolat to Nacional and Nottingham Forest new boy Licá.
Benfica win race for Rafa
Benfica took their fair share of the limelight largely thanks to the signing of Sporting de Braga star Rafa Silva for a reported €17.5 million fee, but the Eagles will also, however, allow new signing Oscar Benítez to go the other way on loan and Rui Fonte to re-join the ‘Arsenalistas’ on a three-year-deal as part of the payment package.
Mehdi Carcela, who signed for the Primeira Liga holders just last season from Standard Liege, is another to head for the exits in a permanent deal to Granada, whereas Anderson Talisca, widely expected to be joining Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers throughout the window, landed in Turkey last week to complete a loan switch to Besiktas.
Also on their way out were Nélson Oliveira, picked up by Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, João Nunes, signing a three-year-deal with Lechia Gdańsk and Raphael Guzzo, who signed for Reus Deportiu in the third tier of Spanish football.
Beyond the new arrivals subsequently joining from the Rafa saga, Braga made sure they got in on the fun too with the signing of Atlético Paranaense striker Douglas Coutinho on a two-year-loan, whereas there were couple of promising names also on their way to Belém and Coimbra, as Belenenses confirmed the loan signing of Manchester United’s Joel Pereira and Académica took 17-year-old full back Rúben Vinagre from AS Monaco for the remainder of the season.
By Patrick Ribeiro
Done Deals
Benfica: Guillermo Celis (€2.2m), André Carrillo (free), André Horta (€0.4m), Branimir Kalaica (free), Franco Cervi (€4.1m), Andrija Živković (free), Danilo Barbosa (Loan), Rafa Silva (€16m)
Sporting: Alan Ruiz (€5.3m), Federico Ruiz (free), Radosav Petrovic (€2m), Lukas Spalvis (€1.6m), Marcelo Meli (Loan), Beto (free), Joel Campbell (loan), Elias (€2.5m), André (€2m), Luc Castaignos (€2.4m), Bas Dost (€10m), Lazar Marković (Loan), Douglas (€1m).
FC Porto: Alex Telles (€5.3m), João Carlos Teixeira (free), Felipe (€6.2m), Zé Manuel (free), Laurent Depoitre (€6m), Óliver Torres (Loan), Diogo Jota (Loan), Willy Boly (Undisc.).
Sp. Braga: Ricardo Horta (loan), Luis Aguiar (free), Tomás Martínez (€1m), Lazar Rosić (€750k), Marko Bakic (€1.4m), Douglas Coutinho (Loan), Oscar Benítez (Loan), Rui Fonte (Exchange for Rafa).
