2019-03-01 World Soccer

A

club renowned for its

extensive global scouting

network and ability to turn

diamonds in the rough into

a sell-on bonanza, Porto do not solely

concentrate on prospecting in far-flung

corners of the planet. They equally like

to pan for gold in their own backyard

and the seams of talent never are far

from the surface.

In recent times, the Dragons have

unearthed and developed a clutch

of local gems from both the Porto

metropolitan area and the northern

administrative region, of which it is

a sub-set.

Ruben Neves came through the FCP

youth ranks prior to moving to English

club Wolverhampton Wanderers at the

start of last season; free-scoring Sevilla

striker Andre Silva enjoyed a similar

blue-and-white striped apprenticeship,

as did Portuguese international

midfielder Sergio Oliveira, who is

now on loan at PAOK in Greece.

Porto have been especially fortunate

in the many fine centre-backs they have

discovered on their porch: Ricardo

Carvalho – who later went on to feature

for Chelsea, Real Madrid and Monaco

as well as win 89 full caps – the much-

travelled veteran Bruno Alves who is

now with Parma in Serie A, present-day

Portugal international Luis Neto of Zenit

and the up-and-coming youngster

Diogo Leite.

While there are undoubtedly rich

pickings to be had in this zone, Porto

scouts are only human and have been

known to miss what is under their nose.

Current Sporting and Portugal

attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes

slipped the net, as did long-time

national team left-back Fabio Coentrao,

who instead chose to start his career at

fellow northern outfit Rio Ave.

Andre Gomes, starring at the moment

for Premier League Everton, was let go

by the Dragons as a 15-year-old. Porto

native Joao Mario – who these days

features for Internazionale and Portugal

• also started out at the Dragon
  academy, though only stayed for a
  couple of years and was forced to up
  sticks when his family moved to Lisbon.
  Another to fall through the cracks was
  Benfica’s Pizzi, one of the Eagles’ most
  important individuals this term.
  Some of Porto’s greatest players of
  all-time were picked up close to HQ,
  among them keeper Vitor Baia, stopper
  Jorge Costa, right-back Joao Pinto,
  midfielders Jaime Pacheco, Antonio
  Sousa and Jaime Magalhaes and goal
  machine striker Fernando Gomes.
  Incredibly, six of the Porto side which
  won their first European title – then
  known as the Champions’ Cup – in 1987
  were locally sourced.

SPECIAL FEATURE

centre-forward Matthias Sindelar. Centre-
half Ernst Ocwirk and wing-half Gerhard
Hanappi were the backbone of the side
which came a creditable third at the
1954 World Cup. The impressive OFB
team of the late 1970s – which famously
beat West Germany in the 1978 World
Cup finals – was highly dependant on the
capital-city class of right-back Robert
Sara, schemer Herbert Prohaska and
striker Hans Krankl.
The Favoriten district of Vienna is
known as the area’s talent crucible.
Wunderteam icons Sindelar and
goalkeeper Walter Zeman came from
here, as did 1980s and 90s national
team marksman Toni Polster. Dejan
Ljubicic began at the club too.

Porto

PORTUGAL

Six of the Porto side which

won their first European title

in 1987 were locally sourced

New...Porto’s

youngsters

Champions...Porto

were the best in

Europe in 1987