Hello guys, I am a Sporting CP fan. Today we presented Fredy Montero officially. Apparently its a loan with a option to buy of some sort, but our club president Bruno de Carvalho said Fredy will be with us for "5 seasons" so I believe they are leaning towards buying him eventually, unless he turns out to be a flop signing. Do you guys think he will do well here? Ive heard of him before and have seen videos and he looks pretty talented. Some people may raise the argument that he is coming from the MLS, and maybe will not play well in Portugal / Europe. I am not one of those close minded people, a good player can succeed anywhere given the right conditions, and Colombian players have had a lot of success recently in the Portuguese league including Falcao, Jackson Martinez, Fredy Guarin, and James Rodriguez all at FC Porto. In general the league is good for south American and latin players. Porto signed Hulk from a second division Japanese team, and signed Jackson from a Mexican team. Former Sporting Striker Liedson was bagging groceries at age 22 before going pro with Corinthians and ending up being a club reference of the last decade. As for Sporting, we are going through tough times in our history both in financial and sporting sense. we finished 7th last season which was our lowest ever. we have not won a trophy in 5 years and we haven't won the league title since 2001/2002. Our new club president is a breath of fresh air and seems to have what it takes to turn things around, and our club academy is currently turning out loads of talented youth prospects that have a chance at making the first team.
Montero has a ton of potential and he has matured a lot while with the MLS, but he has room to grow. I don't know much about your league's style of play, but Fredy really needs one that is more technical than physical. MLS is definitely on the physicality side of the coin and the hard tackles and general mugging by CBs could knock him out of his game. But even with the physical nature of MLS, Fredy could often pull a rabbit out of his hat and score some amazing goals and if he was paired with a quality "big man" forward to distract the CBs his technical skills could really come out. When Fredy came to MLS, he really was a pure goal scorer, but over time his ball distribution skills really picked up.. Part of it was out of necessity though. Montero can be very streaky with his goal scoring and prior to developing his ball distribution skills, this meant there were periods where he'd "punch out" of games if he wasn't scoring goals. This earned him a reputation of "being lazy" among Sounders fans and that reputation stuck even though it wasn't applicable starting the second half of his second season with the Sounders. I suspect Fredy will start out as a supersub vs an immediate starter, but if he's given a chance and enough playing time he could work out well for you.
We went from 5th in scoring last year to near the bottom of the heap this year and I blame that on the loss of Fredy Montero.
I don't feel like our big problem it's scoring, I think it's defense. We just don't enough keep clean sheets. We've got six clean sheets this season, most of them against non-playoff teams. RSL have 8, Portland have TEN, including one against the NASL team that beat us.
LOL.. Never mind that we've been clean sheeted 7 times in the regular season, 10 times in all competitions. Never mind that we have the 3rd worst shots on goal from inside the box.. Never mind that we have the 5th lowest goals for in the league. Let's also not forget that over 1/3 of our goals are from two games. Oh, and lets ignore the fact that our defense is constantly under attack because our midfield is a steaming pile of crap and we can barely string two passes together before turning the ball over.
I think Montero will be a hit in Portugal. He's both techincal when needed; he can also be a CF that is expected to play back to goal, win you fouls, and also has wicked FK's. I expect him to do VERY well his first year especially given the recent success of Colombians in Portugal. Will try to catch games this year, as I think the league has been added to GOLTV here in the states.
U can always catch streams if u can't find on tv Our sporting forum is pretty active lately feel free to stop buy if you'd like Thanks for the responses
I knew he'd be a hit...lets hope he keeps it up. Typical bullet you'd see outside the box from him. His power when he gets under it....incredible.
Terrific goal, not trying to be pessimistic/hater or anything because i do like Fredy but it was just a friendly. I hope he is able to have a good season at Sporting and have a chance at getting National Team call up(for WC he'll need to lights out that is for sure), so I hope we see plenty of this when it counts because that's where you make your money. But he also started out hot at Millos before the inconsistency kicked in for a good part of that loan spell.
Heh. Yeah.. I clearly was wrong about Montero not starting right away.. But glad that he's working out so far. Hopefully he continues his current form... If only because they are likely to buy him and the Sounders can get paid.
He set the bar high in his first match with plays like that. Hope he can keep it up consistently over the whole season!
If he plays like that constantly there, it bolds well for seattle to getting a very very nice transfer fee and i am hoping its more than what them originally offered seattle.
Aren't the transfer fees generally determined at the start of the loan to buy deals? If so, they could be getting a substantial discount.
Depends on the price set. We do not know what was price that was agreed to is the same of what the original rumor fee was.
Already... One thing that made me think that Montero would shine if given a chance is his ability to create scoring chances for himself and score with little space. He's also proven able to score with his head and feet which is remarkable considering his size. Skill is skill.
They had to start him when they sent Ricky van Wolfswinkle to Norwich City. He won't beat guys like Rodriguez or Falcao but, with a really good season at Sporting, he might have a shot of making the squad. Especially considering that James Rodriguez proved himself by playing in the same league.
yeah hes been off to a great start here. doesnt surprise me to tell the truth, its clear he has the talent. lets see if he can remain consistent. Sporting had a terrific opening match. Our next game is away to Academica Coimbra this Saturday, a place where we have struggled to win points in recent years.
There's still way too many players ahead of him in line trying to get a World Cup spot. Falcao, Jackson Martinez, Carlos Bacca, Luis Muriel, Teo Gutierrez, and guys like Dorlan Pabon and Darwin Quintero are all ahead of him at forward. Attacking midfielder/wing could be just as long of a wait, but possibly a better way for him to make the team. If he continues to score hat-tricks in Portugal he may get called up for a friendly just to see what he's got.