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Wednesday, 04 January 2012 22:05

Sporting present Sebastian Ribas and Renato Neto

Wolfswinkel going nowhere says Carlos Freitas

Renato Neto (left) and Sebastian Ribas (right) presented at the AlvaladeStriker Sebastian Ribas (pictured, right) and midfielder Renato Neto (pictured, left) were unveiled at the Alvalade tonight. It brings the number of new faces in the Sporting first-team squad in 2011/12 up to an incredible eighteen.

Uruguayan striker Ribas shot to notoriety last season at French Ligue 2 club Dijon. He scored 23 goals to fire the club to promotion and was named the best player in the division. Sporting tried to acquire his services in the summer but Genoa beat the Lisbon club to his signature.

However, Ribas has not played a single game for the Italian side and signs an 18-month loan deal for the Lions, with an option to make the move permanent for 2.5 million euros at the end of the loan.

“I’m very happy to be here and would like to thank Carlos Freitas and Domingos,” said the 23-year-old. “Goals are my life. I don’t set myself targets, but goals are the natural consequence of daily work and I can promise a lot of work and dedication. I’m in good shape physically.”

BBC European football expert Andy Brassell, an authority on French football, believes Sporting have made a sound investment. “I’m optimistic he’ll do well. He’s strong in the air and a fine finisher. He’ll be desperate to impress after what’s happened in the first half of this season,” said Brassell.


Neto happy to be “coming home”

Brazilian midfielder Renato Neto returns to the club where he rose through the ranks after a one and a half season loan at Belgian outfit Cercle Brugge. Neto was part of the Sporting youth team that won the Portuguese championship in the category two seasons running and many are predicting a big future in the game for the combative 20-year-old.

“I’m very happy to be back at my home, where I had an apprenticeship of three and a half years. The loan to Cercle Brugge was the best option for me, but I couldn’t be happier to be returning to Sporting,” said Neto.

Meanwhile, Sporting’s general manager Carlos Freitas has dismissed remarks made by Ricky van Wolfswinkel’s agent suggesting the Dutch striker will soon be moving on from the Lisbon club.

“Wolfswinkel happy at Sporting”

“This is merely the opinion of Louis Larios (Wolfswinkel’s agent). Wolfswinkel is duly protected with a five-year contract and a release clause of 22 million euros. He’s happy at Sporting and is very much part of our plans,” said Freitas.

The new arrivals will not be ending here. Sporting are expected to officially announce the signing of Brazilian centre-back Xandao before the end of the week, as well as PSV’s young Moroccan winger Zakaria Labyad, although the latter will only join at the end of the season.

by Tom Kundert

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Comments (17)
The Portuguese Around Us
17 Wednesday, 11 January 2012 00:59
Due to the lack of Portuguese players, I don't follow the Portuguese League that much anymore. That's what made it enjoyable for me. Sporting was one of the last holdouts, but even they have given in. But that's what they have to do. Most people want a winning team and couldn't care less where the players come from. I'm in the minority. Prefiro perder com jogadores nacionais em campo do que ganhar com estrangeiros. At least Bento is doing the right thing with the Seleccao.
Extra note
16 Friday, 06 January 2012 17:27
One extra note that I’ve stated before. At what point people do the same people that blame the big 3 start blaming the players?

Last time I checked if an EPL, La Liga, or Serie A club offers a similar wage, our Portuguese players are jumped over themselves to leave.

The so called evil foreigners tend to at the very least show more respect for our clubs then our own national players. I’ll put money down that Ronaldo and co. will never wear another Portuguese club jersey again but English, Spanish, German, Italian, etc… players would all take paycuts at the end of their careers to play on their top teams.
Take the blinders off
15 Friday, 06 January 2012 13:56
Thank Mdot. You hit right on the head with Scotland and Ireland. If anything Portuguese fans should be concerned about how the worlds economy could really start affecting our league. Brazil and it's clubs now have the funds to maintain their players. Which in turn raises their cost further. Russia and the Saudis, never mind China, are now becoming players in the transfer market. Meaning more competition for those foreign players.

Let me add that for all the concern, it would seem to me that Cristiano and Nani developed just fine abroad, at Man United.
Backwards Thinking
14 Thursday, 05 January 2012 22:06
Trying to run a club like it’s still the 70’s is pure backwards thinking and doesn’t understand current economics. Sporting moving away from using weaker Portuguese talent is what is allowing them to have a competitive team again.

If you want an example of a league full of national players, look at Ireland or Scotland. Lots of Irish and Scots on their clubs, their league sucks and so does their national team.

Now look at leagues that could careless about national players and their main focus is getting the best players with the money they have (EPL, La Liga, Serie A, etc…). So yes Porto, Benfica, and Sporting have less Portuguese talent but the talent that breaks their starting 11 is talent that’s worth a call up for our national team. Also our national team over the past few years has been the best in recent history, this is during a time where there are less Portuguese players in the big 3.

Funny how people take trash about the big 3 not having Portuguese but smaller Portuguese clubs with large amounts of Portuguese talent get little to no support from people on these forums, no support in their stadiums, and no support in jersey sales. So keep talking trash but its clear the vast majority of Portuguese would rather a competitive team then a second division club full of no names.
Sporting!
13 Thursday, 05 January 2012 19:44
What I think is sad is to see all the Porto and Benfica fans sob over Sportings newest acquistions. The Sporting youth cannot win aganst power houses such as both Benfica and Porto plus Europe. I for one am happy that my team is finally in contention for silverware! Rather then watch them get destroyed like last season. Plus the Portuguese players in Sporting now have to play harder, it is no free ride anymore. This competition brought by these foriegners will help us see who the true champion youth players are. Look at Andre Martins, this boy has been proving just how good he really is! Andre Santos started off on the bench but now has also stepped up his game more recently. So final word from me is all of you Porto/Benfica fans better start respecting our team instead of looking at Sporting as just a good youth team.
No crisis
12 Thursday, 05 January 2012 17:34
I'd also like to remind some of you that Paciencia gave Postiga and Djalo the firsty five games of this season to show what they can do. End result: 0 goals. Since joining Zaragoza, Postiga has scored 4 goals in 15 games. Why would Sporting in their right mind want to keep players who just can't cut it? Postiga may be an exceptional case and certain Portuguese players on the team currently are playing at a higher level, but even still, if they aren't as good as other players Sporting can acquire, why bother? They should instead be getting more playing time with other teams where they can then prove themselves and attempt to make it back on to a good team in the future. I really don't see this as a crisis by any means.
Sporting
11 Thursday, 05 January 2012 17:23
Sporting would have to content itself with a perpetual third place finish if they didn't adopt this philosophy. They are a club afterall, and nowhere does it say they are onligated to act as the national team's farm team. Benfica and Porto have for too long neglected Portuguese player development and are thus even more to blame than Sporting for the current state of affairs. In any case, Sporting has quality Portuguese players but if they don't get the job done for the team, they should rightly be benched or sold off to some other team. It was painful to watch the crushing mediocrity that was Sporting lose and draw game after game last season. Let Porto and Benfica fall on their own swords by starting Portuguese talent and ending up 20 points back of the leaders by the end of the season. Sporting's Portuguese players will get their chances if they are good enough either at home or abroad. If they are surplus to requirements at Sporting, someone else will come along and pick them up, giving them a chance to prove themselves.
@Foreigner
10 Thursday, 05 January 2012 17:16
In some ways it's a good sign if Porto, Benfica etc. can't hold on to their talented Portuguese players if they are good enough to move on to more competitive leagues. The fact is, Portuguese clubs are not able to compete with the big spenders in Europe and elsewhere and so it's only natural that for both financial and quality of play reasons, Portuguese players will want to play abroad. This will ultimately benefit the national team by exposing our players to better competition. It's a shame for the domestic league, but Sporting's youth system doesn't seem to have suffered as a result, if Sporting's recent performances in the NextGen competition are any indication.
Sporting has Portuguese talent
9 Thursday, 05 January 2012 15:55
I agree with the other posters who believe that Sporting has plenty of young Portuguese talent at their disposal. Wilson Eduardo and especially Betinho are exciting young strikers for the future.

Diogo Salomao, Bruno Pereirinha, Bruma, and Medeiros are excellent young wingers.

Andre Santos, Andre Martins, Adrien Silva, Joao Mario, and FIlipe Chaby are all great midfielders.

Joao Pereira, Daniel Carrico, Tiago Ilori, Pedro Mendes, and Nuno Reis are all talented defenders.

I wish my club, Benfica had that much home grown talent. Hopefully Sporting will realize that while it is ok to bring in some foreign talent, many of their best players are Portuguese. Even though I am a Benfiquista, I respect Sporting for what they have done for the Seleccao. We need our clubs throughout the first division to develop Portuguese players.
Ribas
8 Thursday, 05 January 2012 11:57
It seems like Sporting were as keen as mustard to sign Ribas from Dijon, but Inter got there first. Now they have their man, i'm sure he'll find the taste for goals!
National team
7 Thursday, 05 January 2012 05:53
I fully agree with Jose/Canada! JUST ENOUGH FOREIGNERS!WHERE THE HELL our youngsters will develop their skills!?Don't they care about the national team?????

And btw any idea when will Portugal play their friendly games!Update us plz!Thanks!
I totally agree with Jose
6 Thursday, 05 January 2012 02:28
what a disgrace signing,,they no longer believe in their youth academy..Wilson eduardo's position officially has been hijacked
brutal
5 Thursday, 05 January 2012 01:01
Really?
I do not believe that they couldnt have found to 2 pork chops from the supposedly legendary youth academy that are just as good as these 2 bench warmers.
this is why i dont watch copa america, i mean the portuguese soccer league anymore.
in response to jose, canada
4 Thursday, 05 January 2012 00:48
i agree but all i will say is... look at the correlation between amount of Portuguese players in our team and our final league positions...
Martins and Santos, and even Silva at Academica
3 Wednesday, 04 January 2012 23:43
where does Neto returning leave Martins and Santos, and even Silva?? These three young Portuguese midfielders appear not to have any room in starting lineup at Sporting.

Its a shame not only for the Portuguese content on one of the big 3, but for future hopes on the NT, with such limited playing time.

I ultimately want the three young kids to stay/come back to Sporting, but looks like best move for there careers is to be transfered somewhere to gain playing time, like Silva is doing at Academica. Silva is having a terrific season there, and i believe Martins and Santos could also impact another team with playing time ..shame it doesnt happen at the Alvalade.
foreigner
2 Wednesday, 04 January 2012 23:09
Sad to see sporting bring in so many foreign players. What happened to the best soccer academy in Europe. It seem like every year there is less Portuguese player in our league. That will not only hurt the long term health of our league, but also hurt our beloved national team. Sporting was the only one of the big 3 that was mostly made up of Portuguese player. The problem is that our young promising players cant develop! They have to go play abroad. Just look at all the great young players that played on our U20 team, most are playing outside of Portugal. I hope some one wakes up soon. I'm tired of watching Porto, Benfica, and now sporting with lineups that have little or no Portuguese player in them.
Great
1 Wednesday, 04 January 2012 22:43
This Ribas guy sounds pretty promising. 20+ goals in the French 2nd division is pretty damn impressive. Although I'm not sure whether Sporting need another striker, this probably looked like too good of an opportunity for the team to pass on. It would have been a shame for Genoa to keep this guy on the benech for an entire season given his scoring ability. This just gives Paciencia yet another scoring threat. Hope he gets a chance to play against Porto this weekend!

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