André Silva: Fail or Flourish?

This summer’s Confederations Cup confirmed what Portuguese football fans had hoped for some time: Portugal finally has a quality striker. In André Silva, Portugal has an intelligent, skillful player with maturity well beyond his young age. Skilled both in the air and with the ball at his feet, André Silva’s presence on the field clearly improves the Seleção’s play, and helps ease the goal-scoring burden from Cristiano Ronaldo.

After a successful debut 2016/2017 season at FC Porto, Silva made a big-money move to Italian giants AC Milan, a team in the midst of a massive squad overhaul. While it is exciting to see a young Portuguese prospect the subject of a monumental move to a major European team, the question always arises: Is it too soon? In this article, I will compare André Silva’s career trajectory to that of another young, promising Portuguese, Porto-bred striker in recent history: Hélder Postiga.

Opinion: 10 Players Who Could Break Out This Season

The editors of PortugalFutbol.net and FutebolFactory.com are proud to announce our annual list of 10 players to watch this season. After much deliberation, we whittled down the pool of talented domestic players to ten, but couldn’t help but add some honorable mentions. These are players who we believe have a realistic shot at making it to the senior Portuguese National Team by the end of the season. So, without further ado, here’s the 2016/2017 edition of “10 Players Who Can Break Out This Season.”

Getting a Feel for the Portuguese Super “Clássico”

Aboubakar celebrating his goal for Porto

The Benfica-Porto rivalry is one that needs little introduction in the footballing world. Two of the country’s powerhouses over the past decade, Benfica and Porto have lately gone neck and neck for the Liga title. The fixture between the two is one to behold, and one that Mike Martyns can give us a glimpse into.

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Opinion: 10 Players Who Could Break Out This Season

We could see big things from Carlos Mane this season.

Portugal’s performance at the FIFA U20 World Cup and UEFA U21 European Championships strengthened the perception that Portuguese football is on the ascendency once again.

Andre Gomes, William Carvalho and Bernardo Silva are just some of the players that have established themselves over the past few seasons. The editors of FutebolFactory.com and PortugalFutbol.net have compiled a list of ten players who they think could make a big breakthrough this season.

2015/2016 Season Preview: Porto

Much is expected of Giannelli Imbula, seen here in Marseille colors, who made the move to Porto this summer.

With the start of the new Primeira Liga season now less than two weeks away, clubs are finishing their preparations for the new season. PortugalFutbol.net’s own FC Porto expert and creator of TripeiroNation, Mitchell Rua gives some extensive insight into what we can expect from the Dragons this season.

Part II: Primeira Liga 2014/2015 Top 10 Under-24…Outside the “Big Three”

Danilo (left) was superb this season at Maritimo

Two weeks ago, PortugalFutbol announced Part I of the Primeira Liga’s Top 10 Under 24 from last season. In Part I, we announced who were the honorable mentions, and promised the full list to follow. These are ten of the best under-24 Portuguese players from last season playing outside of the “Big Three.” The data has been gathered and the decisions made. Here’s the list.

Part I: Primeira Liga 2014/2015 Top 10 Under-24…Outside the “Big Three”

Ricardo Valente (right), pictured here celebrating a goal scored against arch-rivals SC Braga this season.

At the end of last season, PortugalFutbol.net outlined the Primeira Liga’s top 5 under-24 Portuguese players playing outside of Portugal’s “Big Three” clubs (Sporting, Porto, Benfica). The purpose of this list was to shed to light some of the league’s lesser-talked about up-and-coming talent. For instance, out of the five players listed in last year’s edition, four of them have made their National Team debut since last season. This year, PortugalFutbol has expanded this list to ten.

For the purposes of brevity, we’ve split this year’s list into two parts. Part I outlines the honorable mentions, while Part II will reveal the actual Top 10 players listing. 

Trio Joins Porto

Danilo Pereira has signed a four-year deal at Porto. Photo: FC Porto

Though only one has been presented, Porto have announced the capture of three Portuguese, Liga NOS-based players. Maritimo’s Danilo Pereira, Vitória Guimarães’ André André, and Paços Ferreira’s Sérgio Oliveira have all sealed moves to the Estádio do Dragão for the 2015/2016 season. Porto are strengthening heavily before the start of the season, with these three part of five transfers so far this offseason. And new players are exactly what they need, with last season’s starters Danilo, Casemiro, Óliver Torres, and Jackson Martinez having left. 

FINAL REPORT: 10 Portuguese Players Who Could Break Out This Season

André Gomes has been excellent for Valencia this season.

In the summer, the editors of Futebol Factory and PortugalFutbol.net put together a list of 10 players that could make a positive impact at club level for the first time. Now that the season has finished, we decided to assess each player’s progress and assign a final grade.

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Sérgio Oliveira to Move to Porto?

According to reports coming out of Portugal for some time, Paços Ferreira midfielder Sérgio Oliveira is set to return to Porto, after a two-season stay in Paços. With the Liga NOS season winding down (or winding up depending on your viewpoint), transfer rumors abound. Porto is at the heart of a lot of the transfer speculation, and the latest speculation is centered around Sergio Oliveira.