Simao to Newcastle

Simao is one hell of a player, Benfica are completely stupid to be actively looking to sell their best player.

Benfica seems to be looking for 10 million pounds, don't know if that's feasible for Newcastle. Has the Robert situation been cleared up? Simao would be an excellent addition for the left wing.

 

never heard of this guy until yesterday...until he scored against holland.

 

You should know the player.

Simao has been one of the bright young prospects of Portugal and Europe for that matter. He came up with Sporting Lisbon and was sold to Barcelona when he was 18 or 19. He spent a couple of years (2 or 3) with the club as Luis Figo’s understudy at right wing. He obviously did not see a ton of time in that capacity. He did see time when Figo moved to Madrid in the summer of 2000. If I recall correctly, Simao had an up and down season and battled injuries.

He moved to Benfica before the start of the 2001-2002 season and emerged as one of the best players in the Portuguese domestic league. He was arguably the league’s best player, when he tore his knee up in a friendly in March. That injury kept him out of the World Cup, which is a shame, since he would have seen action with Figo’s injury troubles. He made a very quick recovery and was back in the fold by the start of the season. He presently leads the SuperLiga in scoring and has re-established himself as a regular with the national team.

Simao is short, but very fast and technically skilled. He takes all of Benfica’s free kicks and penalty kicks. Most of the major teams in Europe are tracking his progress.

I CAN see Benfica making the transaction. While the club will be in Champions League next year, it has had huge and ongoing financial debts that have to be addressed. All else being equal, Benfica retains Simao to spearhead what could be a decent campaign in Europe next season.

From Simao’s perspective, I could see him making the move. While he was a little too young when he left Sporting for Barcelona, he has really matured during the last two years in the Portuguese SuperLiga. Despite the injury late in the season last year, he along with Deco have been the two best players in the Portuguese SuperLiga during the last two seasons. With Simao’s pace, technical skills and scoring ability, he would do very well in the EPL.

I just don’t understand it from NUFC’s perspective. The midfield is presently crowded, and it would seem like either a defensive midfielder or a defender is more of a priority. Of course, all of this depends on Sir Bobby’s transfer plans. Simao can play the support forward position assuming the Magpies sell Bellamy in the offseason. On the other hand, he can play both right and left wing. We Portuguese fans would like nothing better than to see Viana moved to the center of the pitch (where he belongs), and Simao taking the left wing.

The last factor in all of this is Robson’s close ties to Portugal, where he coached both Sporting Lisbon and FC Porto.