Sporting CP The Biggest youth recruitment drive ever

Season update

We have won the title for the 3rd straight year. It was a closely run fight but we won it with a game to spare

Jan Fosch our free signing lit up the division,

We won 2 of the 4 cups we entered, once again failing in the Champions league.

Recruitment drive

Over the years we have had such a high turnover of players, that the numbers in our youth teams (B, U23 and U19) Has gradually declined. So armed with a €1.7billion transfer budget I have sent scouts around the world to try and buy up the best Under 19s we can. €250m has been spent on 40 players this summer. Only 3 will be for the first team squad. The rest between the 3 youth squads. That averages out about €6.25m per signing which is not that bad really.
Below I will go through all the players.

First Team Signings

Backup Goalkeeper

Chilean 22 year old Goalkeeper Contreras joins us as our new backup Keeper. Our current number 1 is starting to gain interest so I needed a player that would be happy as a backup but could step up should my number 1 leave. €1.4m is a small fee.

Attacking Midfielder
My scouts found Carlos Alberto when he came through the intake. We have been watching him and just before his 18th birthday he agreed to make the move. At €23.5m he is my biggest signing this summer.

Winger

Another Chilean, Herrera joins us on a free from Manchester City at the end of his contract. After a €5.5m move from Huachipato he made 12 appearances in 5 seasons but had a really good loan at Sunderland in his 3rd season.

Youth Recruitment drive

Goalkeeper

Signed on a free with a 50% of next sale from Non-league team Praia de leirosa. A young Portugal goalkeeper who will play for our Under 19s.

Centre backs

Bast joins for €11.25m from Brazil at 18 he will likely go in the B team or on loan to further his development.

Salihovic the 19 year old German centre back could one of the closest to breaking into the first team squad. A €12.25m signing from Dussledorf.

Rinaldi like his Brazilian team mate Bast is also 18, A Bteam or loan player.

Martins joins from Estoril on a €325k deal. At 16 he will go into our U19s

€100k from Stade d’Abidjan in Ivory coast. We’ve had some great luck with signing youngsters from Africa on this save. Probably a U23 player this season

€115k for 16 year old Italian CB, Ursino will likely partner Martins in the U19s this season.

Right Backs

€1.7m was spent on Uruguayan Right Back Sanchez. At 17 he will either be in the U19s or U23s this season. His Technicals will be the main focus

Left Backs

16 year old Colombian  Gomez signs for €750k, he comes under a centre back in game but with a strong left foot and speed I’m looking at training him as a LB

€3.9m from Lask 17 year old Austrian LB Mario Lutz joins the club.

16 year old LB Crisostomo joins for €130k from 3rd division side Lusitanuia

Defensive Midfielder

Real Madrid youngster joins for €115k, He could end up dropping into CB but we will see how he develops

Durate joins us for €400k from Estoril, at just 16 his mentals are looking good.

€8m was spent on 16 year old German defensive midfielder Raebiger from Dynamo Dresden

€7.25m for Dutch DM El Ahrach from Vitesse.

€6m saw Frenger leave RB Leipzig to join us.

Attacking Midfielders

Another RB Leipzig youngster Eppler joins us for €11.25m!

Naveira leaves Celta for €3.9m

Vintzilaios is one that stood out to me, costing €17.25m from Olympiacos. He could be in the first team in no time

€5.5m was spent on bringing 15 year old Swiss youngster Scarpa from Young Boys.

€15.25m saw 18 year old Rueda join from Newell’s

€4m saw the Polish youngster leave Legia for Sporting.

€15.5m saw Flamengos Attacking youngster join the club.

Orban signs for €1.2m from Sepsi OSK in Romania.

Wide Right Attacker
€11.75m secured the signing of Brazilian Right Winger Ferreira

Slovakian 16 year old winger joins for €1.3m

€17.75m was spent on another Brazilian Right winger.

Polish Wide attacker Dawidowski signs for €125k

Wide Left Attacker

€400k was enought to get Estoril to agree to sell us their 15 year old winger

€21.5m secured the second biggest signing this summer as Serhiy joins us from Dynamo Kyiv. At just 17 he has room to grow.

Striker

Vacas joins from Sevilla for €1.2m

Italian striker Vitellaro joins from Torino for €8.25m

17 year old Mexican striker Garcia joins from Pumas for €5m

16 year old Beligian striker Heriveau joins from Seraing for €1.7m

17 year old Dutch striker Kamphuis joins from PEC Zwolle for €8.75m

16 year old Spanish Striker Ballesteros joins from Mallorca for €8m.

And finally 16 year old Zeverino leaves Portimonense for €700k.

Youth Intake

I signed 6 players from the intake this season to help with the numbers of the youth set up. All 6 will be in the Under 19s this season.

While you might be thinking 40 signings and 6 youth players is overkill here are our current squad numbers

First Team – 23
B Team – 17
Under 23s – 16
Under 19s – 16
Loans – 24

After utilising the loan market the squad levels are at a good number to ensure all the players are playing enough games to develop.
Despite all this spending we still made a profit during this window.

Juventus met Fosch’s release clause, So he leaves us for €80m after signing on a free just 12 months ago. Abadia had his head turnt by the riches of the middle east. Dortmund met Bossio’s release clause which saw us make a €36m profit on him. Carlos at 24 clearly wasn’t going to break through so we let him leave for €5m. Arsenal met Pavelka’s release clause at €40m. Nuno struggled to break through so a €5m deal was agreed before Barcelona spent €70m meeting the release clauses of both Christogeorgos and Jager.
Overall that meant that we finished the window with a €10m profit whilst overhauling our entire 3 youth set ups.

Tactic

We’ve won the title 3 years in a row now. SO this season I want to change the style of play from a high pressing one to a more controlled possession style.
This is what we are going to line up playing.

If you want to download the tactic you can here – LINK
I wanted a much more slower build up play which allows us time to get bodies forward and overload the centre of the final third. Keeping one player wide either side for out ball or to drag the defence out of position whilst having cover for the counter.

The Youth recruitment never stops.

My scouts are constantly on the look out for more talent. Due to being a selling club with offers coming in for our players all the time heading into the winter window 4 are already being linked to moves away in the media. So to ensure the constant cycle I never want to be caught short panicking for a replacement. We always have options to promote within. Over the 10 seasons I have been caught out a few times by not having an option ready and been forced to maybe overpay for someone so going forward I don’t want that again.
That being said here are a few more players who will be joining us in future windows we have already agreed deals with.

Winter window 2034

Semeniuk will join us for €3.5m. A young striker from Sparta Praha will go into our Under 19s.

Brbric will join us from Hajduk for €2.5m he will also be in our Under 19s.

Summer 2034 Window

Sa’adon will join next summer for €3m. Due to national rules he cant leave Israel until he is 18. A promising midfielder will join us from Maccabi Petach-Tikva.

€6.75m was spent on this young Mexican striker from Toluca. In the last few seasons our strikers have been getting bought for about €80m a time after successful seasons, could he be the next one? Another player who can’t leave until they are 18.

Winter Window 2035

Caseres won’t join us for over a year when he turns 18. An attacking player who can play anywhere across the front but will likely be a winger. Costing €6m from San Lorenzo.

Like Caseres, Da Silva won’t be joining for over a year and has cost us €12.75m from Gremio.

Summer Window 2035

Silva will join us in the summer of 2035 for €1.2m

 

During the next Winter window we didn’t add any players apart from Brbic and Semeniuk who we mentioned above. But we did see 3 players leave for up to €101.5m

Larramendy came through our youth set up and developed well enough to be a rotation option at Defensive Midfield but wanted to move to the Middle east for the money. Pedersen was someone we signed for €11.25m and had high hopes for but as we only play with 1 striker he found his chances limited. Da Silva is another youth product who we sadly lost as he was our starting Right Back. He had developed well but at 22 Barcelona took him.

His Value shoots up to nearly 3 times what they paid.

Youth update

At the halfway stage

The B- Team are second in the league below the first team.

The Under 23s are top and unbeaten this season.

The Under 19s are smashing their division. It’s great to see the investment in youth is paying off already. Some have made fleeting sub appearances in cup games etc but over the next few seasons I really want to stop buying for first team and just be promoting from within as much as possible.

Next up we had our next Intake in which we signed 5 players

Sousa comes in highly rated by our coaches, He becomes their 4th highest rated potential striker at the club and already has the ability to play for the B team.

Messias a dual footed winger again comes in as a potential 5* recruit according to the staff.

Central midfielder Malacho, Has the potential to be a first team squad player.

6foot brave. aggressive, determined centre back Andre joins the club to help improve the options defensively for the U19s

Tavares, A potential squad player long term, dual footed and aggressive.

One of the issues I’ve found in the U19s and U23s is games continue even during international breaks and we often get caught short. Especially with Goalkeepers and Strikers. Soo I’ve looked to bring in a few more youngsters.

Pedras Joins us from Vit. Guimaraes for €550k.

Vida joins us from Rio Ave for €625k.

Both of these will give us youth depth in the Goalkeeper positions.

Szekeres joins for €775k from Csikszereda in Romania. His attribute spread looks good already for just 16 years old.

Another promising talent snapped up from Rio Ave, Young Midfielder Matias joins us for €825k.

15 year old Belgian, Babin joins us for €700k, an attacking midfielder.

Margarit joins us from Vit. Setbul A young Portuguese striker costing us €550k.

575k was spent on 16 year old Serbian Striker from TSC. Who has great finishing already.

Finally is Sadik who signs from Standard Liege in Belgium for €575k.

NEW NUMBER 1 GOALKEEPER

I wanted to find this post off with the announcement that we have signed (Hopefully) Our new long term Number 1 Goalkeeper. He has cost us €28m from rivals Braga but at 19 I’m hoping it is worth it. I’ve followed him for a few seasons since his intake but hes been reluctant to move to a rival. But after pushing in the media etc he finally became interested on the basis he would be our first choice.

It’s been a while since we had a Portuguese first choice GK at the club so I was happy to make the move.

That concludes the biggest youth recruitment drive ever. Hopefully I’ve put the club on a better footing now for bringing players in even earlier to develop. Before we were signing Under 24s to develop and sell on but I wanted to lower that age bracket further.