Post it on the B team thread instead, Inkie, it's easier to find these things when they're organised.
Our club has confirmed the renewal of Matheus Pereira's contract until 2020, with a release clause of 60M euros. The player back in September was said to have agreed to join Monaco, and hasn't played since, but now the player will stay with us. This is great news, he's probably the brightest talent we have, and at 18 years old, has already played for the B team. Good job BdC on making an effort to keep this player, we need to hold on to quality.
Sporting announce the contract renewal of Bubacar Djalo until 2020 with a release clause of 45M euros: http://www.record.xl.pt/Futebol/Nacional/1a_liga/Sporting/interior.aspx?content_id=936989 Thoughts: Similar to Matheus Pereira, there was a lot of talk about this player recently (in Italy, they called him the new Pogba) and the player's agent came out recently to attack the board for their handling of the renewal process (something that has been happening with every young player in recent times it seems, much more than with other clubs). In any case, it's good to see the Board is working to keep our young future players and not letting them go prematurely like before.
Seems like a lot of Sportinguistas don't rate him at all. As Joao said, looks like Bubacar has a fantastic agent.
Speaking with some knowledge: Bubacar is average at best. How he became known as "the new Pogba" will remain one of life's biggest mysteries. He's got great physical abilities (as expected), but his awkward tactical sense added to under-developed technical skills don't leave me much hope. Out of our u-19, it's urgent to renew Pedro Ferreira's contract. He should be our top priority right now when it comes to youngsters.
I guess we must remember that no one seemed to think much of William when he was on loan in Belgium. Now look at him. You never know what will ultimately happen with most players.
William always had potential, just not as much as he's showing right now. He debuted at the age of 18 against Vitória SC, but he was playing as CM back then, so his lack of pace held him back a few times. He then moved to Fátima, where he played as CB (if I'm not mistaken) and did well. On Belgium, he started playing as DM (playing occasionally as CB) and started to show more quality. However, the belgian league has almost no visibility here in Portugal, which explains why we weren't aware of his potential. Meanwhile, he was playing for the U-21 national squad, which he even got to captain for a couple of games (I remember watching one of his matches, we had a poor squad but he did well). I think Jardim should be given credit for William's evolution. Who knows, maybe Boubacar will find his "Jardim" and overcome his weaknesses, I'd be extremelly happy about it, but I definitely wouldn't bet on it.
Good info. I remember on another site, a few of us kept track of the loaned players a few years back and William never came up as a viable option to rejoin Sporting. I agree that Jardim must get credit for his rise.
,William was the stand out player of his generation up until about the u17s, then he had a terrible injury just as he was going up to the u19 team, spent one year or more without playing and had some trouble cracking into the starting eleven on the u19s upon his return. People kind of lost their hopes on him, and then they stopped following him after he moved to Fátima, on the third tier, and then Cercle Brugge afterwards. While he was playing in Belgium Renato Neto was back with our first team being a bit underwhelming despite having been one of the best prospects in the Belgian League, so everyone kept being unimpressed by William who was just getting by in Belgium without standing out. Then Leonardo Jardim came over, the board talked to him about William - and apparently our former player and the national u21 manager, Rui Jorge, also had something to say about his captain - he liked what he heard, called him to the pre-season, was impressed by him, and started him on the first friendly that summer. The kid had an MVP performance and made everyone else on the pitch look like amateurs. And as you all know, the rest is history.
This is exactly how I remember it going down regarding his time in Belgium. Must also say I kinda liked Neto AND Zezinho, and I'm still surprised the later hasn't gotten another chance at first team action.
All Sporting players on the podium for best young player in the month of feb. Tobias first, Joao Mario second and Esgaio third
Yeah, I'm hearing Esgaio is being amazing for Académica. He has been playing as rightback and leftback so I hope he learns to defend better, because attacking-wise he's already at Sporting's level.
Zezinho renewed his contract on the last days of Godinho Lopes' tenure, so I'm a bit affraid that's the whole issue right there.
Our u19s are playing against FC Porto's for the league at José Alvalade. It's on Sporting TV right now. I'm really liking Matheus Pereira and Rafael Barbosa, they are a class above the rest.
Funny how things turn up. At the end of the season, our U-19 squad travelled to Porto and won by 2-0. They are now two points behing them, with two games remaining, which means they may still be champions. Our U-15 squad also won 2-0 against Porto today. Bernardo Sousa (yes, he's still on fire) and Sérgio Velosa scored our goals. With one round left, we'll travel to Benfica and we will be champions if we manage to beat them.
The u19 league ended today, Porto were the champions and we came second but fought for the championship until the last game. Considering this is the worst u19 team in memory I can't really say I'm mad, they did far better than anyone ever expected. Congratulations to the players who made unbelievable improvements, and congratulations to Luís Boa Morte, who despite his inexperience as a manager, completely turned this team around and made them very competitive. I've also heard wonders from several sources of the u19s new physio who came with Boa Morte, originally a martial arts physio, apparently the kids love his methods and they're really getting results.
After a 2-1 away win against Benfica, our U-15 we're crowned champions! Rodrigo Vaza and Tiago Rodrigues, in extra-time, scored our goals.
Gelson Martins scored the first goal of our U-20 NT against Senegal for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. He also assisted Rafa (1:40), but he missed. Mauro Riquicho (RB) and Domingos Duarte (CB) also started.
Gelson Martins assisted our first goal against Qatar, with a beautiful cross. Riquicho and Domingos Duarte also started again.