Sousa Cintra reversed the decision made by BdC previously to eliminate the B team and instead only have a U23 team in the new U23 league starting this season. The B team was relegated last season, so they will start in the lower leagues, but I think its important to have this team. The B team was not used effectively, instead buying questionable players overseas to fill the ranks, when we should be using it for academy/national players as a stepping stone to the A team. There's good players such as Daniel Bragança, Miguel Luis, Luis Maximiniano, Thierry Correia who can break into the first team.
I like the idea of a B team rather than a u23 team, but i dont think our playwrs will decelop too well in the 3rd div.
Might do them good to have a year against inferior opposition.. win lots of games, gain confidence and then have a better crack at the second division? Then get the better players out on loan in the top division
They can come back in a year. Actually I feel the B teams shouldnt be relegated just like they cant be promoted. Its in the interests of Portuguese football to have successful B teams with young players playing competitively.
Looks like we backed out of the B team again. Are we going back to U-23 team or do we have no 2nd tier team anymore?
Portugal won the U-19 Euro yesterday. Usually that would be a big deal for us.. but we had 3 players on the team, one starter. Arguably Portugal's greatest youth generation since Figo and because our last president decided youth wasn't important anymore, we have no one. Sad.
I guess we can't have good players every year. It's good to see the quality in the team though, hopefully all these players have a good head on their shoulders as well as talent.
William with his first start for Betis, and not a particularly good one. Lost 3-0 at home to Levante.
Jovane Cabral signed a new contract with us until 2023. A História continua... E ainda estamos no início! 🤝🦁 #Jovane2023 pic.twitter.com/GlaKPZN8iZ— Sporting CP (@SportingCP) September 5, 2018
We've signed a 15 year old Chinese goalkeeper who is 1.95m tall. His name is Yee Sun. In Spain they are saying we signed the Yao Ming of goalkeepers. At 15 years old, he could still grow well over 2 metres tall. Also smart to cash in on the Asian market, and because Chinese clubs can only field Chinese goalkeepers, they might be willing to pay a lot in the future.
There's not been much to write about in this thread, hopefully this changes in the future and we see a huge improvement in quality from our Academy. Merih Demiral who is on loan to Alanyaspor, got his first call-up to the Turkish national team. If you recall, he was expected to be a part of the squad, but was loaned out to the Turkish side who has an option to buy him for only 3.5M euros - one of the poorest decisions made by the interim board back in the summer. I sincerely hope that Varandas/Hugo Viana can try and re-negotiate so that he can come back, he has a lot of potential and could be sold for a lot more in the future.
That was a really odd decision. There must have been something internal that forced their hand or something.
I've read that Hugo Viana is working to get Matheus and Geraldes back from their loans. Now that Peseiro is gone, it could happen. Still, both players have barely played in Germany - I hope they come back a little more humble, not thinking they're superstars.
You'd hope that riding the bench would make both understand they have a lot of work to do. Hopefully the recall works out.
So what's the deal with the U-23 league? Is it being seen as successful so far? Really haven't heard anything about it. Still want to see us with a B team eventually.
We're in 6th place currently. Tiago Fernandes had returned to coach the U23 team but a few days ago accepted an invitation to be the new coach of Chaves. So now we're looking for a coach. IIRC Varandas wanted to bring back the B team so that could happen soon. Speaking of youth, today's game saw a return to our roots, and some youngsters who could be set to break into the squad. Miguel Luis doesn't seem to have a lot of technique but looked really mature today, hence the comparisons to Adrien. Pedro Marques could be an interesting back up option for Dost, especially if Montero is out for a while. Thierry Correia can definitely stake his place at RB, especially with Gaspar/Ristovski not exactly lighting it up. Bruno Paz was really impressive when he came on, could be an option instead of playing Petrovic.
Lol tiago fernandes doing anything to get in to the news. Saying that Leao is the best ever academy play and better than Ronaldo.
To be fair, Leao scored again and was MOTM. He'll be overhyped now that he's not on our team. Meanwhile Joao Felix is better than Eusebio, apparently
Leao has been one of the few who abandoned the club and have been playing well. I have no doubt if he stayed he would have his chances. Still hopeful we can win in the courts and get money for him. Funny thing is although Leao is shining, he's not the best of the generation. Daniel Braganca I think is still our most talented, he's loaned out but I really hope he gets a shot in preseason. He cannot be worse than the likes of Gudelj or Petrovic.
Yeah I've always heard so much about Braganca but he hasn't been getting called up for Portugal and hasn't gotten a shot with the first team yet. He was supposed to be much better than Miguel Luis. Seems like he's stagnated.
I just think theres this fear in portugal that you cant win if you introduce young players. I call it the JJ effect, he always said he preferred players in their prime since his benfica days.
I think theres definitely a bit of that going on, but even players like Miguel Luis, who was never supposed to be great, have taken over him.
True it could also be the player's mentality. He's loaned out right now to a 2nd division club so hopefully he's playing.