Sporting CP – Season 5

January Window

One of the quietest Januarys we’ve had in terms of outgoing. Sa despite signing as a squad player hasn’t been happy with being a squad player so he’s left for Club Brugge. Bica really struggled with the step up so left for Italy after 6 months and a €4.65m profit. Ajax came in on deadline day to turn the heads of two of our prospects.

Again this January we’ve invested in youth talent from around the globe. But it’s also been our busiest January in terms of improving the first team.

€27.5m has been invested in Mertens who I see as a RWB he will be on one flank while his Belgian compatriot Jacobs will be on the left flank. Two young progressive prospects should set us up for the next few seasons.

As we reached January I felt like we had a few gaps in the first team one of those has been filled by Reyna. I needed a player who could cover both LW and LDM he fits that mould.

Luis moved to Newcastle which never paid off for him never being given the chance. Here we’ve signed him for a low fee as cover and to add experience to the B team.

We have really lacked so far this season from not having a playmaker in the DM slot so in comes Le Celso. He goes against the grain of what I’ve signed so far this save as someone over 30 but As our squad gets ever younger due to the high turnover he offers a maturity to the team.

Gauto has lit up the Swiss league this season and the previous one so we’ve moved to bring him in a player that can play across all the front 3 positions he offers flexibility to the squad.

Barroso left the club for Dortmund a few years ago and struggled to make the grade, we’ve resigned him to help with squad depth and registration quotas.

We must always be looking for the present and the future here at Sporting, in the summer we signed Cunha and now we’ve signed Carvalho (loaned back) Seen by my scouts as a long term Portuguese prospect we moved to sign him now as interest increased.

Cucurella joins as a project, I needed a new Libero for this season and felt he was a nice project option, experienced ball carrier and good defensively.

Fabio Carvalho has been a player I’ve been following for a few seasons and now we finally had the chance to sign him. He will come in to the first team and offer flexibility. We can play wide or central which helps.

 

Fabio Silva has done ok, not great so I wanted a proper no9 to lead the line for us and it took time but Lucca stood out. At 27 he’s entering his prime which I need someone who can start finishing all the chances we are creating!

And boy did he?!!

23 goals since January he got our season back on track. We pushed up to 3rd place but Benfica and Porto were in a world of their own. They’ve both really raised the bar this season both only losing 1 match each. We really need to step up our game this next year.

Not even a cup win this season for us.

Summer window.

A quieter summer in terms of outs, is our poor seasons turning clubs off?
Moura left after Jacobs made LWB his own. Subiabre left without making an appearance due to his good performances out on loan. Affengruber asked to be transfer listed after I said I wouldn’t break the wage structure for his new contract. Onyebule really grew this season which saw Leverkusen meet his release clause. Back up keeper Callai returned to Brazil. Costinha had his head turnt but oil money and Juventus snapped up my Goalkeeper Hedl for €29m.

in terms of Ins we’ve recruited more experienced talent for the first team and been more ruthless for short term success.

Leite joins our defence adding experience to the back line before Jota comes in as an elite talent on the right. Before Vetlesen joins to give us more depth in midfield.

New Midfield Pairing

The last few seasons I’ve really struggled to find a quality pairing in the centre of midfield. So I’ve really prioritised this as a focus and feel happy with the pairing I’ve brought in. Spending €74.5m on the pair I’m hoping they can drive us forward. I see Paulinha as as the one who breaks up play and wins the ball back before giving Sudakov the ball to take teams apart. In my head I’m picturing a Rodri and De Bruyne type pairing.

Going into the season this is how the tactic is now looking.

One good thing is I’ve been made aware of how good our development has been we are the second highest club in Europe in terms of providing player development that are playing in the top 5 leagues.

After two seasons now of disappointment I really feel like we need to bounce back this season.